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CINEMA

New role Sheetal Menon courts cinema

The fashion and advertising industries consider Sheetal Menon one of the best models today. With her trademark dusky looks and wavy hair, she struck gold with the Kingfisher swimsuit calendar 2005 and now, like most successful models, is stepping into Bollywood.

Her first film, ‘Brahm,’ scheduled to release this month, pitches her against former models Dino Morea and Milind Soman. “All of us come from the modelling background but we met for the first time on the sets of the film. Dino doesn’t model often after he became an actor and Milind stopped modelling a decade ago,” says Sheetal.

‘Brahm’ is a story of two brothers in business. By a quirk of fate, the story bears similarities with the Saif Ali Khan-Akshaye Khanna starrer ‘Race,’ which also releases this month. “‘Race’ is an action film while ‘Brahm’ is a thriller and a love story with melodrama,” clarifies Sheetal.

In the film, her role is of a supermodel. “The story has nothing to do with the fashion industry,” she explains and adds, “The first 15 minutes just establishes my profession –– the ramps, backstage, et al. After that, the story takes its own course. Dino and I have different pasts which catch up with us. The story moves back and forth.”

Sheetal has had her share of adventures shooting in exotic locales while modelling (of which she cites the Kingfisher shoot in Andamans the favourite), but ‘Brahm’ threw up surprises too. “We were shooting in Manali in November, when the temperature was touching zero degree Celsius. There was a scene where we had to get drenched. I’ve never been so numb before,” she laughs. “We had an equally crazy time shooting in the thirteenth floor of an old apartment complex in Mumbai. The complex had no lifts and we had to use the stairs. It kept me fit, so I won’t complain.”

Coping with the competitive glamour industry comes naturally, she says, having grown up in different cities meeting different people.

“My dad was in the Army and we kept moving every two years. Dad comes from Kerala and mom from Mangalore. I was born in Nasik but spent my childhood in many places –– Gujarat, Punjab, Hyderabad, etc.”

At a time when dusky Indian looks are considered the ‘in thing’ in the West and a few Indian models are strutting down international ramps, Sheetal differs. “Despite the hype, working abroad is still tough. There’s a lot of competition and modelling there is a different ball game,” she says.

In India too, she says, models have to deal with a changed scenario. “There was exclusivity earlier with only a few models around. Today young girls come to Mumbai everyday with the hope of becoming models or actresses and the industry is looking for fresh faces. The supermodel concept doesn’t exist anymore,” she says.

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