Is the show over?

Prasad Bidappa

Designer

There is a certain breed of Indian supermodels like Carol Gracias, Jesse Randhawa, Tapur and Tupur Chatterjee, and Lakshmi Menon who define the Indian Style Goddess as did Mehr Jessia and Madhu Sapre. Supermodels like Katrina Kaif and Deepika Padukone became superstars.

Abdul Halder
Delhi-based designer

Nowadays every kid on the block wants to become a model. It’s more like a hobby. I agree it is very competitive and the newer girls sometimes do shows for free to get publicity. But this not a shortcut to fame. It’s probably as competitive as Bollywood now. The king Khans come out with a new look with every movie and the models have to not only compete with them on the ramp but also try harder — be it in body, beauty, poise, walk or plain professionalism.

Rahul Dev Shetty
Model coordinator

In those days, Madhu Sapre, Milind Soman and their likes commanded attention. However there are a few silver linings now — maybe Lakshmi and Jyotsana. We’ll have to wait and see the shelf life of these girls.

Priyadarshini Rao
Designer

The younger lot are more professional now. Just as in the film industry, the bar in this profession has also been raised and the new girls are flitting between the ramp and advertisements. The last decade hasn’t really seen much talent since Ujjwala Raut but recently Lisa Hayden and Smitha Lazario are making heads turn.

Nimita Rathod
Delhi-based designer

The concept of a supermodel doesn’t exist for me. My clothes have to shine rather than the person wearing it on the ramp. The model has to do justice to the collection, and not vice versa. Today Bollywood has stolen a mile over these models. Shilpa Shetty, Bipasha Basu and Sonam Kapoor are better crowdpullers than models.