'I don't think film is my calling'

Rarely does a model ever acknowledge that the profession she has chosen has a short lifespan. But that didn’t bog her down. As she was well-prepared for the pitfalls in the career and took worked hard to get to the top.

It’s with a lot of dedication and passion that Indrani Das Gupta has got to a position where every aspiring model would want to be. But this leggy lass never thought that she would ever be a top model. “Like any Bengali girl from a conservative family, I too thought I would end up being a doctor or an engineer. In fact I first thought I would be a lawyer and look at me now,” she laughs.

In the City for a fashion show, Indrani says though her journey so far has been fruitful, a lot has changed in the fashion industry itself. “You can finally call fashion an “industry”. There used to be a time when getting assignments were only through word of mouth, but now there are many professional agencies helping you out, making things a lot  easier. The advent of technology has helped many models have their own websites,” she explains.

Modelling, Indrani says, is not as easy as it seems. Till today she remembers her very first shoot which was held inside a flying plane. “I had to be very still and suddenly the pilot told us there was some technical glitch and I kind of panicked but then my team decided to go ahead with the shoot. So on the outside, I had to try and stay as calm as ever but inside I was panicky. Luckily things went on well and we landed safely,” she recollects.

For most models, going from the ramp to acting is a natural progression but that’s where Indrani differs. Being in the industry for ten years, the only time she has  had a stint with acting was in a music video. “I love what I do. But films and fashion are very different worlds. And I am not very keen on seeing myself on screen. I just don’t think film is my calling,” she says.

If there was one advice Indrani could give to all aspiring models, “One has to be fit both mentally and physically for everything that the field has to offer. The profession is a short-lived one, so never enter the field without a ‘Plan B’,” she says. As for her Plan B, “I am looking at starting a modelling school and talks are on with some luxury brands,” she sums up.