Sridevi with 90s supermodel Deepak Malhotra

A Model Moment

Sridevi with 90s supermodel Deepak Malhotra. Pre publicity shots for the film Lamhe - released 31 years ago this month.

A screen and look test for the Mumbai supermodel, who was about to step into Bollywood with superstar Sridevi no less. Shot by celebrity photographer, Rakesh Shreshta, Sridevi was styled by Neeta Lulla. Malhotra's height and broad shoulders, his roman nose, chiseled features, physically he was a perfect match for long limbed Sridevi. Talent wise... well...

She, already a well-versed thespian by age 27-28, (when Lamhe was shot) and he, after being the hottest face in fashion in the nation, movies seemed like the next inevitable and logical step. And what a platform to jumpstart his cine career; a movie with the biggest filmmaker in India, Yash Chopra (fresh off the success of a blockbuster Chandni), with the biggest stars in the country bracketing him (Anil Kapoor and Sridevi, screen legend Waheeda Rehman), Malhotra could not have asked for a better entry for someone who had no links to the deeply incestuous, self-indulgent industry (hate using the word nepotism as Ms Kangana Ranaut has co-opted it). 

Model turned actors are nothing new to Indian movies, though historically it was women who stepped into the film industry that circuitous way. Most leading men were usually progeny of those within the industry (far too many to list - especially in the 1980s). Character actors popped out of NFDC or theatre, but to be the 'hero' of a movie, was/is just about impossible as it is today. 

Can think of only Jackie Shroff who won the luck of the draw, who went from model to superstar that decade; Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Kumar Gaurav had deep links rooted within the studio system and a family of film producers backing them.  

Above: The star son debate, well, discussion has been going on since the early days. Decades later, there's been little change! 

Anyhoo, back to Mr Malhotra (who has since renamed himself to leave his screen avatar far behind after his failure to launch in film).  

A tall act for a newcomer, Sridevi had done over 200 films by the time Lamhe was in production while, Malhotra (who was of similar age as Sridevi albeit one movie old!) came in, frankly, ill-prepared. To be honest, he wasn't that bad, but was completely overshadowed by the entire cast - each one in the film was a multiple award-winner; be it Sri, Anil, Anupam Kher or the Waheeda ji. For someone so photogenic, he got lost in the mega mix of movie icons. Oddly, this film mounted the best performances of almost the entire cast; be it Kapoor, Rehman, Kher or Devi! 

Sridevi was busy concentrating on what became her tour de force double act (its easily the favourite of many Sridevi fans around the globe) and the two, apart from their on-screen moments, barely spoke off screen.  To be fair, this was true of Sridevi in general; a painfully shy superstar who barely spoke to anyone on set .

Deepak Malhotra had one more opportunity to prove himself in a film in 1994 - Tejaswini - but after that flopped too, his reviews read like career-obits. And indeed, his film career was left six-feet (and two films) under. 

Bollywood tolerates everything - except box-office failure.