Neha Dhupia on her early modelling days with Chitrangda Singh, Udita Goswami

Before Neha Dhupia made it big on the screen, she spent a brief time modelling, starring in advertisements and music videos in Delhi. Although those days may be bygone, when Neha appeared on mid-day’s The Bombay Film Story, she opened up about her initial experiences, with the excitement similar to that of a teenager living her firsts.  

Neha Dhupia recalls her first audition

Neha recalled her first-ever audition for a music video with the band Euphoria, where everyone laughed at her, but she ended up bagging. She shared, “I remember in my audition. They were like, ‘What can you do that is fun?’ Because I was very, very athletic, I used to run, and stuff like that. There was a tree. And they were like, ‘But your audition has not started right now.’ And I thought to myself, and I said, ‘No, I can do this.’ I hung upside down on a tree. So, they just laughed at me, and they called me inside.”

Further sharing her experience, she recalls, “My hair was too straight. They said, ‘We want her, but we want her with curly hair. Because she has to look like somebody who lives in Mauritius.’ And then I sat there in this hotel and got my hair curled. It was called a perm. Getting a perm done in those days was like 9,000 bucks. I got the bill, and I was like, ‘Who`s going to pay for this?’ Right before I was going to pay my bill, somebody walked in and paid my bill.”

Recalling her first plane experience, Neha shared, “I get to travel on a plane, and I had never travelled abroad. I was nervous about going to another country. On the other side, there was a stopover in Mumbai.” She shares how they asked her if she was okay with the layover, adding, “I was baffled. I was like a kid in a candy store. They paid for my air ticket. I was on TV with a rock band. And when I went to collect the VHS copy. The funniest part, they gave me a paycheck.”

Neha says that was the moment she decided to give it a shot.

Neha Dhupia recalls her modelling days with Chitrangda Singh and Udita Goswami

Reminiscing about her modelling days, Neha recalls, “We did a campaign for Gillette. We woke up like a week later, it was Chitrangda and me. We were like hand in hand. We have very distinct, different looks. But I still remember that image.”

“Chitrangada and I still talk about it,” she says with nostalgia and excitement.

Talking about Udita Goswami, Neha shares, “I still remember. We did a campaign many years ago. And at some point, she got tired. She was like, ‘You wear this outfit.’ I was like, ‘Okay, I will wear it and finish it.’”

With a wide, proud grin on her face, Neha concludes, “These are the people I kind of started off with. It`s just so nice.”