Gladrags Manhunt winner Abhimanyu Jain at the Atrium on Saturday afternoon. Picture by Rashbehari Das

After having bagged nine national-level squash titles, Abhimanyu Jain is now getting used to a title of a different kind. Ask this young man from Jodhpur how it feels, and you spy the hint of a blush even a week after he was crowned winner of the Gladrags Manhunt. “It feels great? people do take me more seriously ever since I won this title,” he smiles, in town for the opening of a Raymond showroom in New Alipore.

Though Abhimanyu won the trophy on April 8, the nation is yet to catch the contest telecast (scheduled for April 23, 8 pm on Star One). Rewinding to his “big moment of glory”, Abhimanyu recalls the winning answer that won him the crown and plenty of kudos. “They asked me what I would like to change about the world, other than peace and poverty, and I spoke about how the status of women should change?”

This is one topic that Abhimanyu is genuinely touchy about. “Women are the sole reason for our existence? I think something has to be done about child marriage, rape and female foeticide? This wasn’t a mugged-up rehearsed answer, I think my emotions took over?”

And while at emotions, do the men from Mars behave differently from their Venus counterparts when it comes to their first reaction on winning a glamour title? “I don’t know about others, but I didn’t blow any kisses or fall down in excitement. I went numb and the next thing I remember was scanning the audience to locate my dad and spotting my super-ecstatic sister jumping up and down,” he smiles.

Life for this sportsman, assistant director, model and wannabe actor began to change from that magic moment. So where does Abhimanyu go from here? The Gladrags guy insists that this was all part of his “strategy to get into Bollywood”. A “career-oriented person who will give 200 per cent” to anything he sets his sights on, he had assisted director Ajay Chandok for Kis Se Pyaar Karoon and Team only to learn the technicalities of acting. “No one can really teach you acting but this stint cleared all my concepts and I learnt everything about lights, camera, etc,” he reveals. That apart, he has been a part of Pyaar Vaar and All That on MTV and television commercials like Boroplus and GKB Optilabs.

Next in his “career strategy” is choosing the right film from the “many offers” he is getting. “Acting is my sole passion and I don’t want to make a rushed decision and regret it later,” he states.

If Abhimanyu Jain had his way, this is how his dream project would read: a candy campus straight out of Riverdale, lots of sporting activity, Kareena Kapoor (“I think she’ll look great with me”) and Farhan Akhtar as the director. “Very much like my favourite flick, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander?”