What gave models goose bumps last eve? 'Fashion' by Madhur Bhandarkar... televised again... evoked memories of struggle, adulation and the fast lane... we all have a story.
Bhandarkar injects elements of truth into each one of his films. When he had made Fashion... he left no stone unturned in capturing the lives of some of the models beautifully... their predicaments and their journey to fame... some slip, some navigate their way beautifully to the top and leave when their term is over. I decided to talk to some of the models about how their journey was shaped and if they could relate to the theme of the movie... because I do. When I began modeling, I was real naive. I didn't know how a portfolio should look or who to meet in the industry... I had to start my journey from scratch without support... it was not an easy task. I met all sorts of people and it wasn't easy to cope up with some of the twisters. Huh! Those days of struggle taught me so much about life!
One of my friends who is a model shares her experience... (she doesn't want her name published). She revealed the details of a meeting with a choreographer who misguided her about the industry and its people and offered to sleep with her to get her prestigious catwalk shows. She said she felt humiliated during the meeting itself. She had agreed to meet this person in a pub, admitting it was stupid on her part to have done that but felt it was above board as he sounded decent and it was only when she met him did she realize he is one of the bad guys of the industry (one of those sweet talking tricksters naïve young models are warned of!) whose sole intention is to misguide young girls and exploit them sexually... some models give in due to scarcity of work and the emotional scars are imprinted on their psyche forever. Those who walk away show indelible strength and self confidence.
Another scene from Fashion took me back to a conversation with a friend who is a popular model today. She had once confessed about how she had agreed to do lingerie shoots for her bread and butter... she was reluctant in the beginning but she had to do it for a living when work was scarce and rents were sky high. Yet another friend Pooja reminisces about fashion week auditions where she was not allowed to audition because she is 5'7" but on the other hand there were so many models of the same height walking in the fashion week! She felt "the pull" was unfair and was disappointed and disheartened for long. Can one survive on talent alone?
The parallel story of a model rising to fame in Fashion and getting lured by bright lights, success and cocaine that eventually takes her life is so evocative of the story of a former model begging on the streets of Delhi. She gave up her career as a designer for modeling and got a couple of prestigious assignments but one false move stopped her spiraling career in its tracks. Is it any wonder then that when a group of friends (all models) watch 'Fashion' each time it is aired on television and get sensitive when the song 'Mar Jawaa' comes on ... it's a different sort of déjà vu when we see our life stories on the television.
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