Fleur Xavier always loved interior design and launched her own company Fleur SpaceStyle a year ago; (Above) A home in Mumbai’s Carter Road designed by Fleur

In modelling, there is no point in trying to prove you have a brain, so why even bother? I’d sooner save the energy for something more meaningful.” When Danish supermodel Helena Christensen says that, she actually goes ahead and makes life more ‘meaningful’ — once the spotlights are turned off — by running an antique shop in Manhattan, launching her own clothing line and doubling as a shutterbug on occasions.

Long, sleek legs, flawless skin, a graceful pirouette or an elegant turn of the neck make it or break it for most youngsters in the glamourous world of modelling. But some quickly get smart and plan ahead for careers away from the camera. Yes, lots of them aim for Bollywood. But others don an entrepreneurial hat or display other skills when they are still hot properties on the ramp or the screen.

Real life for Vidisha Pavate, one of the hottest catwalkers on the Indian modelling circuit, starts once she steps off the ramp and brushes up on her knowledge of Chardonnays, sparkling wines and Rieslings. She settles down with her laptop to take care of the accounting and logistics of her company, Pick of the Bunch (www.pickofthebunchwines.com), that she started with photographer husband Darren Centofanti a year ago to import New World wines from Australia.

“There were so many Australians interested in exporting their wines to India, but they had no idea whom to tap. So we hit upon the concept of starting a specialised service where we get our hands on bottles from the winery regions in South Australia exclusively,” says Pavate.

Step inside Hue, a boutique-cum-art gallery in the heart of Mumbai’s Colaba. The proprietor of the 18-month-old store is a familiar looking 29-year-old with a well-chiselled frame. Remember the ‘Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb’ fellow from the popular Tata Indica ad? Now Sahil Shroff is not your average model who strays into acting somewhere along the way. Of course, he has made his mark in ads like the Lux campaign with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and he’s the face of HCL. He’s also discovered a new passion for acting and is speed-reading through scripts as he makes a debut in Tinseltown.

But whether he gets into the movies or not, he’ll still be selling from his store. He already sells classy but affordable European clothes. “I price them between Rs 3,000-Rs 5,000 unlike designer clothes, which are very expensive. Every season in Hue you find clothes in the height of fashion internationally,” says the 6-ft tall model, who has a host of other business ventures up his sleeve, including a plan to set up an entertainment-based company in Australia that’ll organise Bollywood concerts.

Sahil Shroff runs Hue, a boutique-cum-art gallery in Colaba, Mumbai; (Above) Megha Kawale is now a top disc jockey

For jetsetting model and former Miss India contestant Fleur Xavier, it was only a matter of time before she became the queen of interiors. “After graduating in Economics Honours, I had always wanted to get into interior decoration. That’s when modelling happened at 19 and it took a back seat,” says Xavier. She started off professionally as a ‘space stylist’ a year ago with her very own firm Fleur SpaceStyle (www.fleurspacestyle.com).

There are others simultaneously building second careers while they are still in the public eye. Music is the great love for DJ-models Ignatius Camillo (aka Iggy) and Megha Kawale. On a different plane, styling is the strong suit of models Sapna Kumar and Kiran Rao. And Binal Trivedi and Diandra Soares have tried their hand at designing shoes and other products.

Of course, there are others who had careers charted out even before they entered the world of glamour. There is, for instance, Delhi-based model Tina Chatwal who’s a qualified dental surgeon.

Does being a model and a celebrity help when you go into business or consider other careers? It can definitely open up new worlds. “It does help. People pay you extra attention,” says Chatwal, who is the glamourous face of a charitable organisation, the Cleft Lip and Palate International Association.

Even for the business-minded it can give an extra push. Shroff uses modelling to further his business interests in a score of different ways. Whenever he’s travelling on assignments, he picks up clothes for his store. He says: “On top of that, I am aware of fashion trends internationally.”

There are, however, times when the profession acts as a double-edged sword. “Modelling comes with baggage. The trust factor comes with difficulty because people feel that models are superficial and dumb. However, it does give you an extra leverage — because you know about fashion and design elements,” says Fleur. Amazingly, Fleur didn’t have a smooth start and her new career took off only after her model friends called her in to get their homes re-styled.

Indrani Dasgupta has been trying her hand at marketing and strategising with the LVMH group for luxury brands Tag Heuer and Dior; (Above) Vidisha Pavate with her husband Darren (left) and South Australian premier Mike Rann at a wine tasting session

Understanding any business is, of course, crucial. It helped that Shroff’s family was in the export business. Equally importantly, he had a degree in e-commerce and marketing to fall back on, that he followed up with Masters in Information Technology from Monash University in Australia and subsequently a work experience in Soft Tech, Australia. He is, therefore, hands-on in every aspect of his store.

Meanwhile, with styling modern kitchens of Mumbai apartments, designing classy decor for houses in Lutyens Delhi, user-friendly offices on clean lines and even the executive lounge of Mumbai Airport — Xavier has a host of assignments to her credit. Importantly, she trained for several years with a Delhi-based architect and also learnt computer-aided design. Pavate also took advanced courses on wine before taking the plunge into business. Currently, they are only supplying five-star hotels.

Having an alternative career allows supermodels like Pavate and Xavier to ease gradually out of the modelling game as they get older. Now they are selective about new assignments. “Having modelled for the last 12 years, I have cut down substantially on work but have at the same time not completely pulled my leg out of it,” says Pavate.

It’s the same for Iggy, who likes to keep his ‘sanity’ intact by spending time at the turntable. Iggy has a deep love for music and he’s one of the few DJs in India who’ll play underground tech music and deep house. He had to juggle his time carefully because for him DJing and modelling happened together.

“In modelling, I have to do certain stuff even without wanting to do them at times, but my other profession makes up for it. Musically I rule,” points out Iggy who refuses steadfastly to ‘play at weddings or for that matter experiment with Bhangra music’. Apart from the usual Delhi circuit, he can often be seen in lounges like Blue Frog in Mumbai and Aurus in Hyderabad.

Tapur Chatterjee is keeping her creative streak alive by designing jewellery; (Above) Ramp-scorcher and dental surgeon Tina Chatwal is associated with the Cleft Lip and Palate International Association

While these models are striking out on their own outside the industry, there are others who are trying their luck closer to home in the fashion industry.

“The contacts come handy when you are doing your own thing,” says Binal Trivedi, who along with Diandra Soares, was designing shoes a few years back. For a brief time after that Trivedi was handling parties at hip nightclubs through her own public relations company, Madjic. Now she’s about to open a day spa in Mumbai. “I have been thinking of retiring from modelling for the last three years. But it’s in these years that I have been doing a lot of shows ironically,” says Trivedi.

Then there’s Kiran Rao, who has been doing makeover sessions at the Bandra salon Mad Wot, and Indrani Dasgupta who has been dabbling in marketing and strategising with the LVMH group — for luxury brands Tag Heuer and Dior.

Meanwhile plans to diverge to into another career are all set for Tina Chatwal. She finished her bachelor’s degree in dental surgery before she got onto the ramp. “It’s just that I got through into the Miss India contest and life took a different course,” says Chatwal, who once a year makes a week-long trip to Zurich to be part of the Cleft Lip and Palate International Association that treats Indian children with cleft lips and dental problems for free.

“It’s how I keep in touch with what I studied. I can open a clinic but for that I need to have six months of practice. What with my travel and modelling assignments, it would be rather unfair to this profession, which I respect a lot,” says Chatwal.

Likewise Tapur Chatterjee (of the Tapur-Tupur duo) has been keeping her streak of creativity alive by designing jewellery. “Though they are not hideously expensive because they are made using semi-precious stones, there is yet an investment value to them because I craft them in white gold and diamond. Say a pair of earrings could cost anywhere between Rs 30,000 and Rs 1 lakh,” says Chatterjee who ‘charges clients for her karigari and design value’. Having studied commercial art, she even has a national award for a poster design.

But then any venture requires capital. Shroff has been saving up to give shape to his entrepreneurial dreams. A canny sense of business makes him keep his clothes affordable for a young audience. He has also carved out 300sq ft in his boutique to accommodate an art corner that has works of artists like Sunil Das, Suhas Roy, Paritosh Sen and Prokash Karmarkar. “Art happened to me because my sister was interested into getting into it. I got into the groove in the process,” says Shroff.

Iggy is one of the few DJs in India who play only underground tech music and deep house

Chatwal is waiting to open a restaurant in Delhi but with a partner who will provide capital and Chatterjee wants to tie up with a designer to open a store. “Even though I don’t want this passion to die out, I guess I will have to bide time till I have enough moolah to open a store,” she says.

They are all juggling with time and assignments to fit in their other careers. At one end of the spectrum is former Miss India 2007 Pooja Chitgopekar, who is studying medicine at the University of Auckland and has chosen to take time off from the modelling scenario. She wants to return as ‘ex-Miss India-now-doctor’.

On the other end are Iggy, Shroff, Pavate and Xavier who are inching on with their modelling and alternative careers simultaneously. “It is a tough call. But it’s a conscious choice,” says Iggy.

They are even stretching their limits in their individual ways like Shroff, who is starting with exhibitions on clothes and art soon and Xavier, who is planning to get actively into furniture production.

After all as they point out, why wait till it’s all over?