(Top and above) Unish Kuri Streax Glam Hunt ’06 contestants walk the ramp at Hotel Hindusthan International on Saturday evening. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

What: Finale of Unish Kuri Streax Glam Hunt ’06.

Where: Hotel Hindusthan International.

When: Saturday evening, 6.30 pm onwards.

The judges: Ace lensman Subi Samuel, model Indranil Dasgupta, editor of Sananda Madhumita Chattopadhyay, actress Debasree Roy and soccer star Bhaichung Bhutia.

The contestants: Ten young aspiring models — Arpita Mukherjee, Rahul Arora, Sumeeta Swain, Arka Paul, Sweety Singh, Shabbir Khan, Lovely Kaur, Yash Dasgupta, Priya Ghoshal and Niraj Biyala — vied for the Glam King and Glam Queen titles after an intensive grooming session by SMPAi that began on August 1.

The hunt: The 10 contestants appeared for the first time on the ramp draped in white satin and georgette moving to a piece choreographed by Debraj Ghoshal. The music, composed by band Ishaan, was catchy. Then came the western formal round that doubled as an introductory session as they sashayed down in black power suits from Shoppers’ Stop.

The next sequence saw them in casual sportswear. Lots of cargos, tennis skirts, tees and vests, complemented with caps, headbands and wrist-bands were seen on the ramp as was sporting action with rackets and balls as accessories.

The third and final fashion sequence saw designers Dev and Nil dress them up in ethnic ensembles with Eina Ahluwalia’s jewellery. The colour palette revolved round the autumnal hues of gold, rust and green. The men flaunted sarongs, dhotis and churidars while the gals wore fitted, panelled or flared lehngas. Intricate embellishments, simple silhouettes, rich Bengal fabrics defined the festive collection further.

Judges Debasree Roy (top) and Bhaichung Bhutia at the Unish Kuri event. Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

The sub-contests: Yash Dasgupta and Sumeeta Swain won the titles of Glam Bod, Yash Dasgupta and Lovely Kaur took away Glam Walk, while Glam Face (most photogenic) was won by Yash Dasgupta and Sweety Singh. Dev and Nil also judged a special sub-contest to choose models for their collection, and Rahul Arora and Sweety Singh were selected the “promising faces”.

The winners: The Unish Kuri Streax Glam Hunt ’06 was a clean sweep by Yash Dasgupta who took away the Glam King title (the many times he bent over to kiss the ramp did not go in vain). Lovely Kaur won the Glam Queen crown. Reactions, photo opportunities and excitement filled the air (though one contestant couldn’t stop crying and her parents were crestfallen, too).

E-quotient: Was contributed by singer Zubeen Garg of Ya ali fame who kept the crowd rocking. “I don’t have a band here, so I will be singing on minus 1 tracks,” announced the singer decked in a glittery turquoise shirt and black trousers.

He kick-started the evening with Ya ali and then went on to Piya milan ko aana and Jiya dhadak dhadak. He then took a break to be back before the announcement of the winners.

This time the singer from the north-east impressed the audience with a Bengali number before going on to Rama re from Kaante and wrapping up his performance with Tu hi meri shab from Gangster.

Also spotted: Director Anindita Sarbadhicari, actress Rimjhim Mitra, actor Parambrata Chatterjee and DJ Akash.

Footnote: We would like to know, though, why the men were armed with swords in the ethnic wear round. The women carried nothing. Does manhood need props?

And why were the men thrusting their swords at the audience and glaring at them with such violence before turning around? Men, especially new-age ones, can be glamorous without being cave men.