Body parts for hire: A chat with body part models of celebs in TV ads

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai are on the sets shooting a commercial for a range of cooking appliances The star couple has made time from their busy schedule to be at the sets ldquoCutrdquo yells the director after the shot is done He praises them for their work and the stars make their way to their vanity vans Now Sheetal Tiwari and Prashant Salian take their place in front of the camera wearing the exact same set of costumes worn by the stars The cameraman takes their shots Itrsquos not that these two follow their favourite stars around even wearing the same clothes as them The two are body part modelsPrashant Salian has been a body double for Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar PicsNimesh DaveA body part model in advertising is someone who only models parts of his body for that commercial mdash hands legs hair back mdash and not his her face A celebrity is the face of the brand which lures people to buy the product But they are not as perfect as they appear ldquoMany celebrities and stars may have a great face but their fingers hands feet look terrible on camerardquo says veteran ad man Prahlad Kakkar With the camera zooming in on the body parts every imperfection can be seen clearlyModel Sheetal Tiwari whose hands were featured instead of Aishwarya Rairsquos hands in a TV commericalldquoThis is especially true with sportsmen whose face and presence help the brand but their body isnrsquot in the best presentable form by the very virtue of their professionrdquo says another producer who has worked on several commercials but didnrsquot wish to be named And in advertising what doesnrsquot look good simply doesnrsquot stand a chance Enter the body part models with their long supple fingers smooth skin gorgeous hair and welltoned bodiesRoma Aroraa whose hair has made it to many adsThe main star gives his takes for the scenes where she is seen After that his job is done These models do only shots in which the body parts are seen upclose a hand moving through hair applying soap liftingusing the product holding the bat a leg dangling from a chair kicking the ball hair soaked in shampoo a man sitting in a bus with his back to the camera a man running and so onActress Raveena Tandon is considered to have the best lips in the industryIn advertising parlance the shots involving a product are called lsquoproduct shotsrsquo or lsquoproduct windowrsquo Typically this involves a handlegback and the application or use of the product Others without any product or face are establishing shots mdash meant to set up a context that an act has been performed by the main star of the commercialParttime professionTwenty twoyearold Tiwari is a hand model Her fingers are long slender and graceful mdash not a spot or blemish in sight And fair that goes without saying ldquoIrsquom actually an actor but I do this for the extra incomerdquo explains Tiwari whose hands featured recently in commercials for Prestige Cookware she stepped in for Aishwarya a Tanishq jewellery commercial for south India featuring Sridevi and a spot for Tide soap She started doing commercials while auditioning for roles in TV serials A model coordinator noticed her hands and asked her to send pictures Thatrsquos how she started being a hand modelHer colleague in the ad for Prestige Salian is a body double for Abhishek Bachchan and Akshay Kumar ldquoIrsquom about 6rsquo2rdquo tall and have the same body structure as Abhishek Bachchan I even have a stubble like himrdquo says Salian Hersquos utilised for his hands and a shot where he pretending to be Abhishek is walking away with his back to the camera Salian has also run for Akshay Kumar in a Thums Up commercialMost body part models stumble upon this job while looking for more opportunities in their mainstream career mdash acting or modelling ldquoWe get models to send us their pictures If someone has good hands or hair we use them for body parts modellingrdquo says Pappu Lekhraj who has been in the casting business for more than 25 years ldquoOnce Kapil Dev fell ill during a shoot and couldnrsquot make it Hence we had to use a hand model and a body double to do some shotsrdquo Lekhraj tells meFor hand model Neelambari 26 it was sheer luck She had gone to advertising agency Lowe to submit pictures for modelling assignments An agency executive noticed her hands and got her an assignment in a Santoor commercial the very next day Neelambari is an experienced hand pun intended and has done ads for LrsquoOreal Aishwaryarsquos hands Pantene Shilpa Shettyrsquos hands Garnier Maggi and Elle She has also worked as a back model for Lux where only her back is shown in an establishing shotItrsquos not always that celebrities have bad body parts Some stars may have aesthetic limbs but the sands of time slip through the fingers anyway Twenty fouryearold Roma Aroraa is a hair model who filled in for Diana Penty in a Tresemme commercial ldquoMy hair is being washed with shampoo in the adrdquo she tells me Aroraarsquos hair is a rich brown colour with beautiful curls and smooth texture that invokes envy among many women Such shots involving application and use of products require several retakes to get the perfect angle and aesthetics right Stars simply donrsquot have the time to give so many retakes Body part models on the other hand are much more obligingldquoAlso celebs endorse a wide variety of products They canrsquot really apply all those products on their bodies itrsquoll damage their skin and look Thatrsquos why we get these guysrdquo says a production house executiveQuite often the star or celebrity doesnrsquot have the inclination to film some parts of the commercial Recalls Trupti Kataria a freelance producer who has worked on several ad films ldquoWe had the star of a popular TV soap in an ad but he refused to do some scenes which involved some caricature comedy So we had his body double do themrdquolsquoA gift from GodrsquoldquoI consider it Godrsquos gift that I got such good handsrdquo Neelambari exclaims Itrsquos true you either have it or you donrsquot Itrsquos like being tall you either are or you arenrsquot And therersquos nothing you can do about it Most hand models also tend to have good legs and feet Aroraa does hand modelling hair modelling and leg modelling Like Tiwari she also wants to become an actor An MBA graduate from Delhi she left her job as an HR professional and came to the city for a big breakNot everyone is an aspiring actor or model though Kakkar has worked with some housewives lsquowith lovely handsrsquo Ajay Sharma name changed on request another hand model does it discreetly ldquoI just came back from a shoot where I was the hand model for Hrithik Roshanrdquo he explains Sharma tells me not to quote him in this story as his family doesnrsquot know about his lsquoother jobrsquo ldquoI actually work with my father in his business Nobody knows about this Please donrsquot use my namerdquo he pleadsFor those who want to make a career in showbiz itrsquos a learning experience ldquoWe get to know how camera angles are used how lighting affects the shot and other such technical aspectsrdquo adds 31yearold Salian who has been a model for both print and TV ads The rest do it for money till a big opportunity knocks on their door The moneyrsquos good too Lekhraj tells me ldquoRemuneration varies depending on the brand production house and the client Therersquos nothing fixed the amount is different for each projectrdquo Models can earn anywhere between R5000 to R15000 for one ad Some may even rake in Rs 20000Work doesnrsquot involve a lot of physical activity and most ads are shot within three to four hours But sometimes body part models may have to wait for entire days on sets ldquoIt depends if the handbody closeup shots are interspersed between the main shots we have to wait for the entire dayrdquo says Aroraa The wait can be agonising Still the extra income helps when assignments are sporadic as Neelambari puts itKakkar who has worked with the biggest stars in the industry says that with starsrsquo increasingly busy schedules body part modelling is in much demand today ldquoWhenever we have to show something on screen it has to look the best If the main model doesnrsquot suit the bill we get someone elsersquos part that doesrdquo he states Actor Raveena Tandon who was Kakkarrsquos assistant in her early days was a lip modelldquoShe probably has the most sensuous lips in the business We used her lips for shoots a lotrdquo confesses Kakkar adding ldquoAnd Sonu Walia She had beautiful hands She did a lot of hand modellingrdquo Preity Zinta is said to have been a leg model It does make sense The hands and legs of today are the faces of tomorrow We may as well see some of these people on the big screen in some years Who knows