“You don’t have local rice?” Milind Soman quizzes an attendant at HHI’s Mythh. He has lunch on his mind. And rui maachh, his “favourite” fish. Or hilsa. He finally settles for steamed rice and Chingri Malai Curry. A couple of hours later, he would polish off a cheesecake. Surprised? t2 was too!

Milind Soman has rice and dal every day?!

Yeah, yeah… it’s the best thing to eat… khichdi. I have been having it for 40 years now!

And you still look the way you do!

That’s why!

What would you tell those who say you gain weight if you have rice?

I’d say they don’t know anything. Rice is the best. I either have Kerala rice or golden rice. In Maharashtra, you also get some local rice that’s good… red or brown and not polished.Wheat is the worst. I never have roti or bread. If I eat a roti, I eat bajra or jowar rotis or some millet.

So there’s a Bengali lurking in you somewhere. Fish, rice…

I like Bengali women! (Laughs)

You took up rice and dal for a Bengali belle?

Not rice and dal but Bengali cuisine, through Bengali friends of mine.

Friends?

Friends! (Smiles)

What did they introduce you to?

It would be rui maachh and rice. That’s my favourite in any case. I love it. Then, I love that mustard fish. There is a restaurant in Bombay called Oh! Calcutta, which is really good. I like it. There is the Calcutta Club in Bombay. Then Bhojohori (Manna). My favourite from Oh! Calcutta is boneless ilish, bhapa.

Every time you are in Calcutta, do you go to Oh! Calcutta?

No, no… then my friends cook. Home food is the best. I don’t like to go to restaurants at all. I don’t trust what they put in the food or their kitchen is so dirty. I went to this really good restaurant in Bombay. I won’t tell you the name because one of my friends owns it! My friend, who I had gone with, found a cockroach in her salad!

Who are your friends in Calcutta?

I cannot tell you! (Laughs out loud)

Have you ever gone sightseeing in Calcutta?

I like to look around, just to feel the city. I like to walk a lot. So I walk in the morning. I also like to run, but if I don’t know the roads I don’t run. I like antique shops. On Park Street they have some nice shops. I take a tram ride....The people are more important to me.

You run a lot. But Calcutta isn’t conducive to that...

It’s crowded. The traffic is very bad. It is a little disorganised compared to other metros. Otherwise the city is warm. I look for running communities in every town. Calcutta, unfortunately, doesn’t have a big running community. It would be nice to have the government’s support for some big running events. I do Pinkathon, which is a women’s running event, and we want to come to Calcutta. A city must support walking, cycling… things that don’t use fuel and help build health. You have to make the streets friendly for pedestrians because your maximum population walks. We focus too much on making things convenient for people with cars. We don’t care about old people, children. You have to start. You have to, if you want to be a better society or city.

What does running do to your body?

It makes it better. I have been running for around 10 years. I used to swim earlier and have represented Maharashtra for 14 years since I was 10. I was the national champion for many years. It helped me in my development as a person, my mental and emotional self. Self-discipline, awareness of your own body, mind, life, people… it all comes from exercise and sport, much more than it comes from anywhere else. The reason why you exercise is also important. If you go to the gym to just have a nice body, then it’s not going to be as effective as opposed to if you are exercising to feel good.

Are you much fitter than you were 10 years ago?

I was always fit because I am always active. I stopped swimming in 1988 and I started running in 2004. That’s 16 years. For 16 years, I did nothing in terms of a sport or exercise. I never go to the gym. I was still fit… that was my whole modelling phase. I was active all the time. I am still the same weight that I was when I was 16… 79 kilos. Over 30 years!

From the moment you wake up in the morning till you go to sleep at night, you must be active, doing whatever you do. Don’t sit. Even a company like Google is creating standing stations for their employees. Sitting makes you really unhealthy and destroys your body functions. Chair is the worst thing invented by man!

Milind at Old Spice’s ‘smell mantastic’ event at HHI on Wednesday. Picture: Pabitra Das

You are the face of the new Old Spice ad campaign. What does ‘being a man’ mean to you?

Today we try not to differentiate between men and women too much. But a man must assert himself if necessary… to be helpful, supportive, honest, sincere. Those are qualities that are appealing in a man.

Looking back, what were you like in your 20s or 30s?

Like this only! I don’t think I have changed. I don’t know whether that’s boring. In any case, all my friends tell me that I am a freak! What can they tell me? They come to me for advice only. ‘Tell us, how to do this?’ (Laughs) Nobody comes and tells me, ‘Listen you need some advice!’ I also don’t go to anybody because I always feel that I know the best!

Nobody?!

Not even my mother. I respect her and she is really inspiring. She’s 74 and doing the Oxfam Trailwalker, which is 100km. My father died of a heart attack and was a diabetic. He wasn’t healthy at all.

You’ve always been called ‘hot and sexy’. How do you look at it?

It’s paying the bills! (Laughs) When I was younger, I thought it was really silly. Right now, I have more respect for it because as I said, it pays the bills. When I got my first modelling offer, I didn’t even know that modelling was a profession. Fashion was there somewhere in the background. You saw Jackie Shroff or Kabir Bedi on a hoarding. We knew Karan Kapoor of course from Bombay Dyeing. He was very famous. So, when somebody told me that they wanted to take some pictures, for two hours, I said, ‘Okay… are you going to pay me?’ They were, ‘Yeah of course!’ I asked, ‘How much?’ They said, ‘How much do you want?’ I said, ‘Pay me Rs 50,000!’ This was 1988. I didn’t even know how many zeroes there were. And they said, ‘Okay!’ I was like, ‘Are they mad?!’ I thought it must be a joke. The shoot was for a wholesale fabric. I thought, ‘Arrey, these people are so stupid! They are paying me to stand in a corner?’

Then I met all these fashion designers who were starting at that time. Rohit Bal is one year elder to me. I modelled for his first collection. I met Tarun Tahiliani and Rohit Khosla. I also started doing fashion shows. I got Rs 1,500 and I thought ‘Rs 1,500 to walk from here to there?’ It was shocking! The whole world was surprised too because I was a swimmer. Totally different worlds. You come here and meet mad people like Rohit Bal. Even at 23, he was mad! And gay designers… I had not come into contact with gay people. And we used to travel all over the world.... Europe, East Asia, Dubai.

Do you miss the ramp?

Never. It’s been 18 years since I left modelling. I only did it for money. It was fun because the people were fun. There were only 20 models in India at that time who did all the shows. Early ’90s. Madhu Sapre, Mehr Jessia, Arjun (Rampal) came a little later. We used to go everywhere, spend two-three days in a beautiful foreign city, do a couple of shows in the evening, have a party and come back. So much fun.

Are you in touch with any of your modelling friends?

No… everyone’s doing their own thing now. They are all busy. Madhu I am still in touch with, but she lives abroad.

You are among the last recognised Indian male models. Do you see it as a compliment?

I think it is a little strange. The kind of models that we had was because the time was different. Now, people don’t want those kind of models. You are choosing models for a different reason today and those models are very good for that reason. Earlier it was very personality-driven. You had Shyamoli Varma, Anna Bredmeyer, Lubna Adams. Today you don’t remember the faces because you don’t want to.

What do you think life will be like at 50?

In two years? Well, I have got something exciting planned. It is a sporting event. (Thinks long) I think it will be very exciting, the way it looks now.