They are glamorous and two of the most celebrated names on the Indian ramp. Powerful and edgy on the ramp, but vivacious, relaxed and fun when you meet them backstage. t2 caught up with Nayanika Chatterjee and Deepti Gujral on the sidelines of a fashion show in Calcutta.    

What is the best part of walking together?

Nayanika: I think she is great fun, damn chilled-out. We’ve always got along. It’s nice to meet up because she always has a positive energy.

Deepti: I just catch up on my love life with her every time I meet her (both laugh out loud). I think I entertain her with my life in general.... She is super easy to work with. If I am so comfortable talking about my love life, you can imagine how comfortable we are! She has a great sense of humour, amazingly quirky!

Nayanika: Some people don’t get my humour, she gets it.

Is Nayanika a love guru?!

Nayanika: No, no, no, no….

Deepti: (Laughs) She totally agrees with my sorrow…

Nayanika: And empathises…

Deepti: She is like, ‘Run away in the other direction, my friend!’

Nayanika: I have been with the same man too long. So, I don’t think I can give anybody any advice (laughs), but I feel Deepti is wonderful and she shouldn’t force it. When you don’t force a situation, it comes to you!     

What memories do you have of each other?

Nayanika: The first time I saw her was when I was a judge on (Sananda) Tilottama and she was one of the contestants. She looked so beautiful and she was so young that I felt bad to give her advice. I told her she must continue with it.

Deepti: We have always hung around a lot backstage. We have exchanged a lot on our common interests… the aches and pains of life and bodily issues.

We just saw Deepti doing her own make-up. How many times have you guys done your own make-up?

Deepti: Several times.

Nayanika: Oh! Hundred times!

Deepti: Always keep your pouch ready. It’s called the emergency ward. If you are having trouble with make-up and the other person is not looking the way they should look, then you should take out the big guns!

Nayanika: I have done people’s make-up during, before, after (the show). My own, everybody else’s.

Fashion myths that you don’t like?

Deepti: I think there is a lot of camaraderie amongst everybody. I think fashion is given a bad name, that people go crazy backstage. We are just regular girls. She is a homemaker. I mean I would love to be a homemaker…. We don’t have catfights, we don’t sit on each other’s head. We get along.

Nayanika: And we help each other at some point or the other. There is no competition. Each one us has her own place. I don’t think we are stepping on each other’s toes if we are helping each other. Like I would say, ‘Fix your blush.’

Deepti: We actually listen to each other. We always ask for a suggestion.

Nayanika: But I have to say I wouldn’t ask everybody for advice. There are a few I would and I trust their advice.
Deepti: There is a certain honesty….

Nayanika: That also comes after a few years of being in the industry and finding your own place. The competition should be with yourself rather than with other people.

Deepti: We also get to hear that we are drug addicts, loose and uneducated. That’s so wrong! You’ve got to be really stupid to say that. We are intelligent people. We can talk, handle home and at the same time, go out there and work. We have also travelled the world and been exposed to a lot of things that probably a lot of people haven’t been. Stop judging us. We are very regular girls and we make amazing wives, daughters and mothers. Let live!

Nayanika: A lot of people will say modelling is a short-shelf-life career. If you enjoy something, you can stretch it. Sometimes you have to be at a party… you are not doing it out of choice. And it is a lot of hard work. Most people would say: ‘Chalna hi toh hai! We can also do it.’ Then, why isn’t everyone a model? They talk about our weight and skin very casually. We do a lot to look after it. It’s not easy. Everybody has insecurities and everybody works on it.

What we show out there, if you can do it and maintain it for so long, I think it is quite commendable. People don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. We don’t get food and water sometimes, we are waiting on heels for endless hours… maybe we don’t use our IQ all the time, but there is a lot of hard work and pressure. We don’t get any provident fund. There are months when we are sitting at home… there is a lot that people don’t realise but it’s very easy to judge.         

What would be your top tips for aspiring models?

Deepti: There is something I have learnt from my seniors and they have been so wonderful to me — which is to shut up and listen. Sometimes it is good to listen to somebody and absorb what is there to absorb and carry on forward. I am sorry to say, but a lot of the new girls, if you tell them that the liner’s wrong, they would be like, ‘Who the f*** are you to say this?’

Nayanika: I went up to this model and said,  ‘If you want, I can help you with your walk.’ She said, ‘Why the f*** do you care when I don’t?’ She was so blunt and she couldn’t care less. That’s the day I decided that I shouldn’t go and offer my advice unless I am sure that they really want it.

Deepti: I didn’t know how to put on eyelashes or apply lip liner. I used to observe the others and follow and ask them to help me and they would. It’s about your attitude towards your profession and how honest you are with yourself and how ready you are to not have the ego come into play but actually wanting to learn, evolve and become better. The younger generation thinks that they know it all, but they don’t. They are going to fall flat on their face.

Nayanika: It’s just a money-making thing (for them) and I feel they don’t last long enough because they don’t enjoy and they don’t take interest in it. As she said, if you don’t take interest in it, it’s not going to happen. You are going to burn out. If you value and enjoy what you do, you can progress. I mean, where do you get paid to look good?!   

What has been your biggest takeaway from modelling?

Deepti: I have travelled quite a bit on work, which I am very happy about and I met such wonderful people. They are like my family.

Nayanika: It has taught me to understand people and be grateful for what I have. I think all my opportunities in life have come from this industry. Even the bad things have taught me something. It’s made me stronger, sensitive and resilient.    

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Reading…

Deepti: I am reading Sadhguru. He’s quirky and he has a sense of humour. I am getting into spirituality since I am not getting a man!

Nayanika: I have gone back to Paulo Coelho. The Alchemist was great. Recently, I picked up The Fifth Mountain and The Spy. I have found it’s easy reading and not too much stress. 

Listening to…

Deepti: I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd. I keep singing it in a very bad way and I think I have ruined it for my roommates also.

Nayanika: I am only listening to new age, Justin Bieber types… because I am trying to keep a tab on what my daughter (Kiara Nayantara) is listening to and how much of that content is good!

Make-up crushes…

Deepti: Under-eye (products) and when you start greying at some point, you really need to get a base corrector. These two things I am totally flipping on and I think they are going to die with me.

Nayanika: Each one has their own quirky little insecurity that we think is a big issue… like I never go out without lipstick… day, morning, night… that one bland colour…

Deepti: (Laughs out loud) That is true! I know that colour…

Nayanika: Spirit (Mac). I am also picking up a lot of highlighters with peach and gold sheen.

Love wearing…

Deepti: A lot of linen, cotton, nice loose clothes…

Nayanika: A lot of roomy dresses… show the parts of the body that are slim and cover the parts that are not. I have found that they are now in fashion and really cool… with sneakers! (Laughs)  

The not-so-favourite backstage activities…

Nayanika: I hate fittings. That’s the worst!

Deepti: Ohhhh my god! That one is not fitting me, this one’s too short… I am looking fat in this….

Saionee Chakraborty