The 10 finalists of Streax Unish Kuri Glam Hunt ’09 strike a pose on Friday; (below) judges Bhaswar Chatterjee and actress Sonalee Chaudhuri. Pictures by Pabitra Das

On August 7, 49 guys and gals gathered at The Big Boss hotel’s banquet hall to talk the talk and walk the walk and secure their spot among the 10 finalists of Streax Unish Kuri Glam Hunt ’09. But why modelling? The twin attractions of “glamour” and “fame” seemed to be the driving force behind these big dreams.

Over the course of the day the judges’ panel that included actor Bhaswar Chatterjee and actress Sonalee Chaudhuri carefully scrutinised the candidates on their vital stats, features, diction, walk and overall presentation. “For me it was very important that the contestants were focussed and serious about modelling,” said Sonalee.

Late afternoon, the silent anticipation went up a few notches as the results were declared at the Rawdon Street venue. The two winners from the Guwahati leg of the hunt, held on July 31, Sukalpa Das in an LBD and Rohit Bal fan Prateek Bharali were to be joined by the selected eight from Calcutta.

The PYTs who made it include Debaroti Das, Kimi Bose, Mehtab Mirza and Veronica Ann Jordan while the men who made their mark were Jaspreet Singh, Krishna Yadav, Milan Dave and Sahil Khan.

And the verdict: “The boys were more intelligent and smart compared to the girls. The girls need more grooming,” said Bhaswar.

With model Sonal Rawat spearheading the rigorous grooming of the contestants from August 10, the finalists will surely be ready to step it up in style at the grand finale on August 21, the winners of which will bag the titles Glam King and Glam Queen.

While 19-year-old Kimi Bose, a first-year student of Sikkim Manipal who dreams of flaunting Gucci and Prada someday, was all smiles, we saw a depressed 21-year-old Aditi Das from Barasat who did not make the cut, but “needed this platform badly”. But at the end of the day, “either you have it or you don’t” said Sonalee.