Model-turned actor Mini Mathur opens up over her first ad Sushmita Sen’s loss was Mini’s gain
Model-turned actor Mini Mathur opens up over her first ad Sushmita Sen’s loss was Mini’s gain
Reportedly two years ago following her being crowned Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen was to endorse an ad for Ray-Ban but failed to show up on time. Mini Mathur was roped in for the modelling assignment.
Earlier,Mini Mathur was associated in an advertising agency at a time when she landed her first job as a model.
Mini thanks Sushmita Sen for the ad. Because it was her failure that landed her the modelling assignment.
How Mini bagged the Ad:
In 1996, Mini was associated with a marketing agency that Mini was given an assignment for the sunglasses brand Ray-Ban. Speaking to Cyrus Broacha on his podcast, former TV host Mini said that she was fortunate to get a modelling assignment to endorse the Ray-Ban campaign. Sushmita Sen was modelling then, and she was supposed to turn for a woman pilot ad where we had to pitch for a campaign. She didn’t come on time.”
The creative director for the ad Abhinav Das walked past her desk and realised she could be a good fit. “He was passing my table, where I was sitting and was colouring artwork because I was a management trainee. He said, ‘Hey, Mini come, we need you to pitch for this ad, you don’t have to put on makeup and just have to put on aviator glasses and a leather jacket and we will see’,” Mini said.
Later, that ad got her many more opportunities, such as her first hosting gig on Tol Mol Ke Bol. She wrote about it in detail in an Instagram post in 2020. She also shared the full ad for Ray-Ban. Back then, she had not named Sushmita as the tardy model.
The Rayban advt unexpectedly turned her career from an MBA in an advertisement agency to a TV host. It’s funny how life works. A model doesn’t show up for a pitch. The creative director Abhinav Dhar decides that she a management trainee at her desk on a Saturday afternoon, is good enough and clicked. Rohit Chawla photography shot with her beautifully with studied disdain reserved for client servicing trainees.
What happened later is her transformation in her career path. She was lapped up with more modelling work and suddenly Sanjoy K. Roy found that she was good enough to co-host India’s first game show on zee – “Tol Mol ke Bol” along with actor Maddy.
Mini Mathur also mentioned on how she landed her first modelling job.
She often wondered is this serendipity or destiny. Was she meant for the corporate world? What if she wasn’t at her desk that afternoon in 1996? What if the she had shown up? Have one wondered about chance, destiny and serendipity? Tell me?,” she had written.
For the unversed Mini married to filmmaker had even hosted Indian Idol for many years.
News input KV Raman
