While it takes at least a couple of years for aspiring models to become a known face, Sumit Singh, a Delhi-based model who eventually wants to make an entry into Bollywood, has in a year’s time made it to the international fashion firmament. He bagged the title of Mr. Talent in the recently held Men Universe Model 2015 at Dominican Republic.
While women’s beauty pageants grab a lot of eyeballs and disproportionate space in the media, Sumit’s recognition on the international stage perhaps went unnoticed.
But he has made the country proud by winning laurels while competing against contestants from 35 nations. During the 10-day-long event culminating in the finale on June 20, he had to clear misconceptions about India, overcome obstacles like language barriers and also make sure that he presented a clear, correct picture of the country before the jury.
What makes Sumit’s acknowledgement – in the form of Mr. Talent – unique is that India’s participation in this format has not been regular.
“I informed the distinguished jury members that India is all about love, compassion and gratitude. It has a mixed culture, is home to people belonging to different faiths and people speaking divergent languages.
As they appreciated my attire of achkan and turban I informed them it is the attire worn by the royals and dressing in them makes one feel regal,” says Sumit.
Instead of taking a circuitous route of being identified and then getting groomed by an astute designer or choreographer, Sumit who is originally from Haryana’s Jind district, took a new, fast and modern approach of getting groomed.
Explaining how he was able to get into the limelight, Sumit says, “There have been multiple factors for achieving so much in so little a time. Right after passing out from the Ramjas College with Maths (Hons) last year, I was fortunate to meet the right people who helped me professionally and provided me with a fast track to succeed at the international level.”
Sikhar Sidharth, who has a knack for spotting talent, backed him. “Apart from this, I was groomed by Harsheen Arora, a psychiatrist, who advised me to communicate more and gave me the confidence to believe in myself. My confidence level increased by leaps and bounds giving me the ability to face the jury at the men’s pageant.
I worked on my communication skills; this helped me to reply to all sorts of questions hurled at me by the jury,” says Sumit, who worked on his physique the natural way.
Like any fledgling model Sumit, who modelled for Anju Modi and Abraham Thakore at the Amazon India Fashion Week, wanted to emerge triumphant in this competition and walk home with a mind boggling 8,000 dollars.
But he also had the urge to tell the international gathering what India stands for, its multiculturalism, multi-linguistic and pluralistic traditions.
“During the competition I was astounded to know that people still believe that India is a part of the Third World. It is a land of snake charmers and has made no progress in the field of development, science and education.
They are ignorant about the fact that our country boats of infrastructural development and producing a number of engineers, doctors and IT professionals annually.”
The fact that India is not known as other participating nations also played a factor in his not achieving the coveted title. “This is the main reason as there was ignorance about India in contemporary times. Another disadvantage was that other contestants spoke their mother tongue. Most of them were conversant in Spanish and I was completely at sea in it.”
But the exposure at the international level has helped Sumit as he has got offers to participate in international ramp shows and work which would get him good remuneration.
What worked to Sumit’s advantage was that he always believed in leading from the front. Whether it was captaining his sports team, volunteering for any camp activity or monitoring the class he was also cut out for the job.
“I always wanted to come in the limelight. So whether it was activities like commanding the classroom, volunteering as monitor, president of fashion society, I wanted to be at the forefront.”
