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PIX: Hot models we want back, NOW
Remember the dusky Noyonika Chatterjee and the hot Madhu Sapre? Or the sexy Nina Manuel and Sheetal Mallar? Here's our wish list of all the yesteryear models who we want back in our lives, like now.
We've all had our favourite childhood pin-up stars -- the hotties who made us sweat back in the day when the Internet wasn't around and we'd scrounge the local raddiwallah for discarded issues of glossy magazines.
These are the models who scorched ramps, television screens and magazine covers back in the day. Many of them listed here have almost retired.
Some of them have chosen to stay at home, others have moved on to different professions. But everyone one of them does make that odd appearance, looking stunning as usual, making us sigh and taking us right back in time.
Noyonika Chatterjee
The dusky model, who scorched the ramps in the 90s is all but retired today. There are occasional shows however for which she puts up an appearance and boy does she stun, like the one during India Couture Week held in Mumbai last year.
The last time we met her, Noyonika Chatterjee was trying to keep up with her commitments for the India Couture Week in Mumbai and the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week in Delhi.
Noyonika who's trained the likes of Priyanka Chopra, Dia Mirza and Lara Dutta among others for international pageants prefers being a homemaker now but surely packs a punch each time she steps out into the arc lights, which we suspect miss her more than she misses them.
Nina Manuel
The hottie who's walked Indian as well as international ramps made us sweat each time she stepped out in an itsy bitsy bikini for a photo shoot or a ramp show.
Then she made her television debut with After Hrs, a late-night show, which covered high profile parties across the country. She hosted the show five days a week for the longest time before decided she'd had enough of being single.
Sometime last year, Nina Manuel tied the knot with New York-based billionaire Luv Shah and completely went off the radar.
Lakme model Amrit Maghera stepped into Nina's shoes but the show ended a few months later.
We did spot Nina a couple of seasons ago at the Lakme Fashion Week as a guest and not a model and sighed as she walked past us.
Fleur Xavier
Voted recently as one of the 50 most beautiful women in India, Fleur Xavier is one of those who's made the transition from being a model to being an entrepreneur very smoothly.
Fleur used to be a ramp model before she decided to hang her stilettos and start her design company.
She graduated from the Parsons School of Design in New York and started FXda or Fleur Xavier Design Associates.
FXda has done the interiors of corporate offices, restaurants, high-end homes and fashion retail houses.
Pooja Bedi
She may be known more as an actress for the bit role she played in that Aamir Khan movie besides a handful of shamefully forgettable ones. But ask any man in his late 20s or older and you'll know the power Pooja Bedi holds.
The model-turned-actress who made headlines after the controversial Kama Sutra condom commercial also made some bold appearances on the big screen before working on some dance shows with her partner Hanif Hilal.
Recently she made an appearance in yet another television show called Maa Exchange, which of course had no Oedipal undertones.
Vidisha Pavate
The first Indian to win the Ford supermodel of the year, Vidisha Pavate has walked the ramps in India as well as in cities such as Paris and New York among othes.
Tall, dusky and with a body made for sin, Vidisha Pavate may not be putting up a lot of appearances on the ramp these days but we're certain she can make a few hearts skip a beat or two if she does choose to step out again!
Madhu Sapre
It has been ages since the day when the ad featuring her and her then boyfriend Milind Soman wearing a pair of shoes and nothing else were burnt across the country but to most Indians Madhu Sapre will always be THAT girl who dared to pose nude with a man.
The shoe company has long since shut down and Sapre and Soman have moved on in life.
Occasionally, Sapre -- looking stunning as ever -- comes down to Mumbai where an obscenity case has been filed against her taking us right back in time when nudity was a big deal!
Sheetal Mallar
The dusky and sexy Sheetal Mallar ended up being the face of a jewellery brand back in the 90s when photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha spotted her one fine day.
Since then Mallar has walked the ramps for practically all the top designers and also done quite a few commercial modelling assignments.
While she's largely retired -- she's a photographer now -- Mallar does step out in the limelight once in a while. Her latest was the sexy Wild Stone deodorant ad that had us sweating under the collar.
Watch the sexy Mallar get wet in the rain
Anupama Verma
She never really was a ramp queen like all the models listed so far.
Then again, when it came to commercial modelling, there were fewer models more popular than Anupama Verma.
Pantene, Fair and Lovely, Siyarams, Verma was one of the hottest faces on the small screen, even having a handful of immensely popular music videos and a popular television serial to her credit.
More recently she was one of the 'housemates' in the first season of Bigg Boss where she hooked up with Aryan Vaid.
Sadly there's lesser and lesser we've been seeing of her though we suspect she can still pack a punch. After all if rumours are to be believed, she is the girl who came between the tennis stars Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati.
Jesse Randhawa
Should there ever be an Indian version of Dirty Dancing, Jesse Randhawa would probably be the obvious choice.
The 5'9 tall and sexy model who's also a professional salsa dancer, Jesse makes heads turn each time she walks into a party or on the ramp.
Mehr Jesia Rampal
The face that launched a hundred brands, Mehr Jessia Rampal now prefers to be a mother of two and a doting wife to the stunning Arjun Rampal.
And even though she rarely ever walks the ramp, she definitely stuns when she does, doesn't she?
Waluscha D'Souza Robinson
Once the toast of the Indian ramp, Waluscha D'Souza decided it was time to call it wraps and become a full-time mother of two daughters and a son!
Married to Marc Robinson one of the men in charge of ensuring the Lakme Fashion Week goes on flawlessly Waluscha is rarely seen in public, let alone on the ramp.
Oh how we'd love to see her again, wouldn't you?