India’s next top models

Their faces are everywhere. Signing up major brands, these pretty young things are giving Bollywood a run for their money.

Starlets beware.The current crop of modelling hotties are raking in big-budget contracts and everyone from fashion magazines to brands are vying to get them on board. Atul Kasbekar, whose Kingfisher Calendar shots invariably launch new faces, explains, “Almost as a rule, the calendar send models into orbit. Some of them may have even been around for a while but they get tons of attention thanks to this. Ashika Pratt is one example of a girl who people didn’t even know of until she was featured on the calendar.”

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Beauty queen
Pratt is the reigning hottie of the modeling circuit and has snapped up contracts with Globus and Tres Mode shoes to name a few. “I was one of the first to work with her and she is open to new ideas and experimenting. She has beautiful skin and the perfect combination of innocence and sexiness,” explains stylist Anaita Adajania Shroff. “She’s already very successful in print and I’ve seen her move in front of a film camera; she’s brilliant.”

Esha Gupta, sometimes likened to Angelina Jolie, is another ad favourite, already featuring in the Blender’s Pride campaign and currently waiting for her TV ads for Close-up toothpaste and Kaya Skin Clinic to be aired.The model rakes in a cool Rs 15 lakh minimum for a print ad. “I’m very particular about the work that I do.

Rounding up the fab four is Jyothsna Chakravarthy. Another magazine favourite, the green-eyed lass from Bangalore was most recently seen in a shampoo ad. “She has a South Indian urban look,” mentions Adajania Shroff. “Her long and lean frame also makes her perfect by international standards.”