Indian Models
GAURAV ARORA

The burgeoning career of twenty three-year-old Gaurav Arora is a story of hard work, dedication and meticulous planning — the Delhi-based model has been in Fashion for only a year and yet his portfolio includes plum editorials and television shows. His career has now taken on national reach with his recent shift to Mumbai, where he is carving a niche, so I spoke to the straightforward young man about his profession as a male model and he proved to be quite a rad conversationalist!

 

"I graduated from Delhi University and then pursued my dream of modelling and acting as I have always wanted to work with media; I love facing the camera so anchoring is my first love but than I love posing and attention too so I began modelling! It was not easy in my struggling days because I belong to a business family with no background in Fashion. But I worked on grooming myself and fine-tuning my oratory skill and only than got my portfolio done by Sayan Sur Roy — one of the best fashion photographers and a good friend. He helped me a lot during my portfolio shoot and gradually I met lot of coordinators — until I got my first assignment — the cover shoot of Men's Health! That was the biggest achievement for me at that point of my career! I then got a call from Headlines Today news channel. I did a few shows with them and then graduated to print shoots. The next step was acting and I carefully took my pick from the channels that approached me with quality work" he reminisces with a smile. "Today, I feel I am doing a great job and I can see myself going towards the future I have always dreamt of! It was not easy! I learnt a lot of things during my journey and and am still on a learning curve — managing a modelling career requires me to be grounded and respect the common man as a public figure. As a model and actor I also have to take care of my body and soul. That is very important! I do yoga, weight training and frequent spa therapies and try to stay calm and positive. This profession is competitive and it's very hard to survive because I face competition every day ! So, my 'x factor' comes into play, other than my cute looks!" 

 

"The future holds a lot of possibilities! I want to launch a clothing line some day and I also wish to open a modelling institution where I can groom young boys and girls. As an actor and model, I aspire to do new things with each assignment I take on! My advice to aspirants is to be confident. Your confidence matters as does how you dress; I follow my comfort zone and wear Indian designer labels and accessories. I also want to advice them to be patient because patience is the only virtue in this industry — don't rush into things; just be confident about your skill set and learn something new every day. Struggle makes you strong and takes you down the road of perfection. Lastly don’t rush to join an agency! I am a freelancer even today. Being a freelance model, I can do the things I believe in. Sure, we have good agencies in India and I might be join one of them at a later stage in my career but for now I am enjoying freelancing. There are some big television projects going to on air soon, one of them from the first week of July, so I am very excited! Things are turning out just the way I visualised it…"

— JASMEEN DUGAL