Models turned actresses like Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, and Katrina Kaif are among the few who set a trend in Bollywood by entering tinsel town. Taking a cue from these hotties, a crop of Sandalwood heroines shifted from ramp shows and now enjoy being in front of the camera. It was Juhi Chawla who set a trend for lot of youngsters in Kannada Industry when she made her debut in a Kannada film, Prem Loka.
Actresses like Ragini Dwivedi, Nidhi Subbaiah, Aindrita Ray, Daisy Boppanna, Pranitha Subhash, Sanjjanaa, Sherin Eshwari took a transition and are doing quite well for themselves. This year, we saw some beautiful faces like Kavya Shetty (I am in Love), Akhila (Padhe Padhe), Parvathy Nair (Parvathi Pura, Story Kathe and now Parabrahma), and Manisha Yadav (Vazhakku enn 18/9) sashay down the ramp garnering a lot of attention on the silver screen.
Kavya Shetty who began a stint with the glamour world through modelling for almost two years has now kept aside her ramp shoes, focussing more on acting. "I always wanted to be a model and was never inclined to getting into filmdom. Somewhere in between, I got bored of doing the same stuff again and again. At the same time, I had directors who were keen on taking me in their films. That's when I thought of giving it a try. Now I have landed in some good projects," she explained.
Indrajit Lankesh is one director from the Kannada industry, who picks up talents from the modelling world and nurtures them to become good actors or actresses. He has managed to rope in the current hottie, Deepika Padukone for Aishwarya and Nathalia Kaur in Huduga Hudugi. "When I go to a ramp show, I see whether the girl is beautiful, has good body language and whether she fits well in front of the camera. Her talent can't be decided on the ramp, which is important for an actress. The important thing is one needs to be talented to face the camera. The first and second round is about beauty but further auditions will actually check on the acting talent which can help us to mould them further," he added.
Even male models in Kannada industry have now taken up acting as a career. Models like Raghu Mukherjee, Diganth Manchale, and Sammir Dattani have earned recognition being on the ramp and are now successfully pursuing their acting careers. "Nothing is long term. It is what you choose to make a career for a long time to come," said Kavya, who has realised that it is not an easy job to be an actress. "Modelling is just a day's work. But films goes on for months or even more. In terms of career, glamour on the whole has a short life. Right now I don't miss walking the ramp as I am quite occupied with my acting," she said.
For Indrajit Lankesh, looks doesn't matter but potential is important to be an actress. "Only then as a director, we can teach them to do better as an actress," said Indrajit, adding, "Deepika Padukone is not only good looking but is also a hardworking girl. She has the zeal to learn. Her talent caught my eye," he said.
There are some beautiful faces, who can do better on the ramp. "We have rejected many number of models as they were not confident in front of the camera. Models with inhibition should not think of acting," said Indrajit.