URVASHI SHARMA
Wooing The Camera
The new IT girl of modelling, Urvashi Sharma is a natural in front of the camera and on the ramp. Capital born, she moved to Mumbai to fulfil a dearly nourished dream of becoming a star.
Ask her to describe what she sees in the mirror everyday and she says she is tall, fair, with brown hair and dark brown eyes. "I have a beautiful smile, a good skin and a great body," she completes the picture, skilfully giving the finishing touches to her make-up, and confesses that she 'never ever' thought she was beautiful. "I do not look completely Indian, so for a long time when I looked at myself, I would wonder why I was made this way."
Her startling appearance has stood her in good stead though, in her forays into modelling and acting. Contracted with Tips Films and Elite Model Management, Urvashi had no difficulty adjusting to the competitive glitzy arena. "I did not know what camera angles were all about or how to pose perfectly for a frame. I watched others and slowly groomed myself. My sister, Sucheta who is in the same profession, is my support system."
The results are there for all to see. Urvashi who has walked the ramp at Fashion Weeks for designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Ritu Beri, Rina Dhaka and has many campaigns under her belt (like Ponds, Reliance Mobile, McDonalds and Reebok) has signed on more than half a dozen films. She is awaiting the release of her debut film, Nakaab, co-starring Akshaye Khanna and Bobby Deol. "Modelling is where I started and I will never give it up," she says. "Yet, for a girl with no contacts in Bollywood, it has provided the perfect stepping stone for a career in films."

PRIYA KHANDELWAL
Building A Business
What is a postgraduate in biotechnology doing running a designer store? Earlier interested in making a career out of genetics, Priya Khandelwal is now the proud owner of Afterglow, her recently launched boutique. "I found my calling late in life," she laughs. The graduate from St Xavier's College, Mumbai, returned from Manchester University with a postgraduation degree, only to discover that prime posts eluded her. "I could not find a decent R and D job in Mumbai," she says, "and, for personal reasons, did not want to move to places in the interiors of the country."
Always interested in dressing well and wanting to own her store, Priya switched tracks. "I had taken my personal life a notch further by getting married," she says, "and I was keen on doing something different in my career too. When I had returned from the UK, I could not find clothes that I really liked and so I decided to open a nice boutique that would stock designer wear at reasonable prices."
Thus the idea for Afterglow was born and it took the 27-year-old entrepreneur a little more than six months to translate her concept into reality. "The inspiration for Afterglow does not come from a perfume," she explains. "When you look beautiful and leave the room, your presence is still felt. That is the effect I want to create." In the span of a few months, her business has grown and she works in tandem with almost 20-odd designers who stock their lines in her store. "It is a self-sustaining venture," she states proudly. "I do not expect huge profits. I am happy that my funky, contemporary Western and Indo-Western fusion clothes have been appreciated."

SHAZAHN PADAMSEE
Staging A Success
The curtain has risen on the newly-minted career of veteran stage personalities, Alyque Padamsee and Sharon Prabhakar's 19-year-old daughter. Noticed for her natural performance in Gary Richardson's skit Be Fair - and also seen in Dragon Fly and Kill Your Horse - Shazahn Padamsee has begun to stage a success in the world of theatre... and films.
Having grown up in a theatrical household, 'being dramatic' is second nature to young Shazahn. "I spent many days in green rooms and in auditoria watching plays being put together. It was so creative and the exposure increased my confidence. That was the best acting school I could have ever gone to," she says.
Acting, interestingly, happened recently to the girl who has completed event management and computer courses. "I knew I would be drawn into it at some stage of my life," admits Shazahn who has been greatly influenced by her 'cool' dad. "He is slowly turning out to be my guru. It is nerve-wracking going on stage…before my first performance, Dad came backstage and we went into a huddle."
The excitement of facing the arclights has not yet worn out for the performer who has already begun receiving offers from Hindi film-makers. "I am open to anything since I love acting and will do any role," says Shazahn. "I have a great respect for everyone in Hindi cinema. The actor I most admire is Amitabh Bachchan. I am in no hurry. Honestly, I have just begun and have a long way to go."

Prajakta Pallav
Colouring Her World
She believes in capturing ‘the real world’ in her creations. Working mainly in watercolours and acrylic on paper and canvas, Prajakta Pallav paints what she sees around her. The 27-year-old artist began with portraiture a few years ago while studying at the J. J. College of Arts, Mumbai.
It would be unwise though to dismiss her art as humdrum and boring even though one often sees visuals of showcases, cupboards and suitcases in her work. Prajakta reinvents what she notices around her and recreates vignettes of verisimilitude. She reveals simplistically that she dabbled in art classes till she began to sell well. Today, the average price of her large work is Rs 3 lakhs. Her primary muse is “real people and the real atmosphere – the way life actually is. What people are and what they often present to others is quite different. I try and capture the contradictions in daily living. My work is not banal. If you look closely, you will realise that it has many layers....” Just married for a year, Prajakta is preparing for her solo exhibition in New Delhi, at the Vadehra Art Gallery.

Ameira Punvani
Dressing Up Stars
Mani Ratnam’s Guru, where she dressed up Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Mallika Sherawat in styles that spanned three decades, brought Ameira Punvani, costume designer, into the limelight. “It was anything but easy, since I wanted nothing but the best,” she states. “I had to rustle up research on the subject in less than 48 hours before I met Mani Sir.” Fraying albums of Gujarati friends and her grandfather’s hoarded clothes came to her rescue. Preparing period finery, meeting last-minute demands like a body suit to plump up Abhishek for the next morning’s shoot in remote Hissar; buying new cotton sarees, washing and beating them to pulp, for Aishwarya.… That was all part of her job.
Born and brought up in Lucknow, the graduate from New Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College started retailing her fashion label, Shunya, through her own store, Monster, in the capital. Films beckoned with debutante director, Siddharth Anand Kumar’s eminently missable flick, Let’s Enjoy. “I liked the experience, nevertheless,” says Ameira and soon took to retailing her clothes through established fashion outlets in Mumbai and Delhi. The Bollywood connection strengthened through her repertoire of threads for Sanjay Gupta’s dark gangster flick, Zinda. Then came Pankaj Parasher’s soulful offering, Banaras…and a whole new look was created. “My mainstream break came with Shaad Ali’s Bunty Aur Babli. I loved working on the kitschy attire.” She soon shifted to Mumbai even though “it wasn’t easy, leaving home to start from scratch in a new city. My two faithful tailors accompanied me. Now, I can work under crazy pressure, for even 72 hours at a stretch. It helps to think on your feet all the time.”

Prachi Desai
Straddling The Small Screen
In between shooting for her tele-saga, Kasamh Se, the serial that made her a household name across the country, 18-year-old Prachi Desai prepared for her 12th standard examination and sat for the same. The results are awaited but what is known is the fact that the bubbly young teenager has proved her mettle. Having bagged several awards since the soap went on air, Prachi’s latest trophy is the Best Actress (Popular) Sansui Television Award.
The girl from a studious family – her father is a professor at a law college while her mother is a teacher at school – had a bee in her bonnet about acting from a tender age. “I had grown up on a diet of serials and characters like Tulsi, Prerna and Kashish who continue to be my favourites,” she confesses. “When I told my parents that I wanted to act, they were surprised and thought that it was pure kid talk on my part. While at St Joseph’s School, Panchgani, I was never given a chance to act. No one knew what I could do. My family soon realised that I was serious and that I would not outgrow it or change my dreams.”
The 5’ 4” girl also toyed with the idea of becoming an airhostess but the small screen beckoned and an audition for Ekta Kapoor’s Kasamh Se put her on the road to instant stardom. “I am different from my character, Bani,” she states. “Though quiet and simple like her, I am rather mischievous and not that sober....” Her days are filled with hard work. “I sometimes miss hanging out with friends, lazing around, but I am delighted with the way things have shaped up.”