Noyonika Chatterjee - Fashionfad

The Bengali beauty has ruled the ramp for 21 years now and continues to be the sizzling queen. Originally from Calcutta, brought up in Bombay she is now in Delhi for the past seven years. Noyonika settled in the capital after her daughter was born, as Delhi is greener and cleaner than Bombay. The 5’11” tall dusky Noyonika has been the mark up for beauty for many Indian women for more than two centuries now. Fashionfad.in gets chatting with her on everything under the sun, tales from on and off the ramp…

Your parent’s reaction to your choice of modeling as career…
I was being offered projects in modeling since I was 13, that time however my parents thought that I was a little young to manage modeling with studying so I turned it down. However when I was in junior college I got a really good offer that time, my parents thought that I was old enough to manage and so they happily let me join. However I followed modeling as a hobby doing it during vacations and weekends and not all that seriously. My family was really cool about it as my mother had been a model and even my brothers though not serious had done some modeling here and there.

Your first modeling assignment…
I did my first few shows for The Trident, Oberoi Hotels, that time they had launched a new wing so I did some promotional shoots for them. Tarun then called me in. I also was chosen for a show for Pierre Cardin and was invited to go to Paris. It was during that time I got selected for NID, so I left going to Paris coz modeling wasn’t my full time job then. In my initial three months I got a lot of attention and I dint have to go looking for work rather it all came to me.

The transition happened later. After 3 yr in NID I studied for 2 yrs in Pondicherry and then come back to Bombay to settle full time. It was then that I saw that I was getting more and more work and the offers were getting better and slowly it all become too difficult to refuse and I started following modeling as a full time job.

Your greatest achievement till date…
I think spanning my career and still being able to pull it off.

Five essentials for a model to climb the ladder of success…

Conscious of your physicality and taking care of your body
Interest in your job
Realistic
Professional
Respect of ours time, money costumes.

The most touching moment of your life…
There has been a lot of touching moment in my life. Like when I went back to Bombay after a long time am there was a guy who recognized me and said where had you been for so long , we wanted someone we could talk to, or when my daughter does something cute…things like that are truly touching

Your favorite photographer…
Prabhu, Atul Kasbekar, Ashok.These people have photographed me well.

Having been in one of the most glamorous industry, your insight on fashion from an insider’s point of view…
Well I’ll say that it is not all that glamorous from the inside because I know the kind of hard work and toil that goes into it, the hours of working and practice that models put in, somebody looking at it from the outside usually tends to miss out on that.

Fashion in India has undergone dramatic changes in a very short span of time and has grown manifold. You have been with it from its very nascent phase, you word the changes in the fashion scene…
Over the years the fashion industry has gone from being commercial to professional. Earlier people use to come to look at models, now they come to look more at the clothes and also to buy them. The industry has become more organized. It now involves so many people of different kinds. Earlier it used to be just the choreographer and the designer, now there are people like lighting engineers and sound engineers. Essentially it has grown to involve more people.

In my early days for some shoots model had to carry their own shoes, do their own make-up and hair, even carry some food for themselves. All that has changed now. Makeup and hair are all done, everything from shoes to handbags and clothes are arranged for them. As I said earlier, the industry has organized itself.

Even in terms of general people, they have become more fashion conscious be it branded or non branded. Also the attitude and the perspective towards the fashion industry have changed of the people. There is more respect in people for this profession now.

The story backstage about your interactions with the choreographers, model co-ordinaters who put together such a picture perfect show…
There are times when we have a blast and then there are times when we are completely exhausted. I’ll say that the bitchiness and the drugs and alcohol is more highlighted because that is what a person is interested to see. A big businessman holding a glass does not gain that much attention as does a model holding one. So life is more interesting on this side. There are unfortunate times when a model has committed suicide, so people say that the stress of the business is killing them. However there are hundreds of students doing the same. So this industry is also painted to some extent.

About the modeling industry globally and in India at present …
Well I’ll say that modeling in India is still in its infancy. Abroad the industry is older and experienced and far more organized. There for a show 3000 girls turn up for an audition. Here they choose from 50-60 of them. The working mentality here is different as well as there is less competition. It is a comfortable industry here in India. Also the economy is greatly straight. I’m not a jealous person to look and others and envy. I try and find happiness in the small pleasures of life.

Noyonika Chatterjee as a person, the books you like, the sort of music you enjoy and all that comprises the most essential part of you other than modeling…
She is a simple and straight forward person. Diplomatic but does not ignore what is wrong. I love meeting new people, I’m highly social but I’m also over sensitive.

Books; fiction mixed with philosophy like Richard Bark, Robin Sharma, Gautam Chopra. Some even of Paul Cohelo

Music: old western classics, not rock and jazz. Loves techno, trance. Favourite: Niel Diamond, CCR others.

Your favourite Indian designers…
Abu Sandeep, Shah Perazi, Guddu for his sensibility, Tarun for his drapery, Manish Arora for his spunk and fun clothes, Rajesh for his straight lines..Also Anamika and Sabya.

Your Favourite International Designers?
Harve Leger….and the likes.

The future of fashion in India…
Very bright. We have everything from fabrics to textiles to embroidery and what not. There is just so much to do. We are a little bogged down by the climatic conditions but there is no end to what we can do.

Your opinion on the increasing number of fashion weeks in India…
It is very retarded and disgusting. People should keep their egos in their pockets and forge bout them. Seriously so many fashion shows are insulting. There should be one or may be just two Indian Fashion weeks which include all the designers. I know these fashion shows have created more work for models but it is not good for the industry as a whole.

Your comments on the sudden cancellation of Kolkata Fashion and lifestyle week…
As I said there should never be so many fashion weeks in the first place. It is a ridiculous practice. It is like we are again subjugating ourselves to the divide and rule concept.

Your daughter’s fashion rendezvous…
She tries to be particular about what she wears. I think that if a child sees more then she should in an early age she loses her innocence. So I don’t push her too much and don’t take her to work much. All these Hanna Montana and all are the things she likes to watch.

Your future what next goals have you set for yourself
Well I don’t set goals for myself because when I do I usually break then. Things change when you have a baby around. It is easier to have just short term goals, I don’t make too many future plans.

Any social cause or social issue that has stirred you and you are working for…
Working with all kind of charities for human beings and necessarily animals coz I think that they can take care of themselves it is the humans that need to be taken care of. I have worked with Girl child, have sponsored a child, worked for all things cancer related, special children and the likes.