Meghna knew in her bones that she was meant to be famous. Modeling was merely the route.
The clothes, the colors, the make up, the stills, the ramp walks . . . all a part of a fascinating montage of images that formed Meghna's dreams as she walked dead center of it all. The fact that apart form being a gorgeous frame, Meghna was also an ace student, was seen as an asset by her in her pursuit of her ambitions . . . whoever said intelligent women couldn't be glamorous? Or famous? Despite her small town upbringing in Chandigarh, Meghna thought she had it in her to make it International, the least indication being Meghna walking the ramp at a local show for a lark and getting noticed hugely by some Mumbai faces that mattered. They saw potential in her . . . specially the very, gay and very upcoming Designer Akash Sehgal . . .
Encouraged by her friends, particularly 'close friend' Maanav Lall, Meghna mentions her plans of setting off to Mumbai in serious pursuit of her career and shocks her parents, particularly her Father who had dreamt of Meghna helping him out in his CA Firm. With her Father antagonized and convinced that she would be back before half the year was up and with Maanav willing to wait for her . . . Meghna arrives in Mumbai as a Guest in her Mother's cousin's house and begins her journey in earnest with a little help from the effervescent Akash Sehgal and his contacts . . . .
However, very soon Meghna's dreams slowly fade into a reality that is far from rosy . . . but Meghna is not one to lose her confidence . . . despite the many instances, that surprise her, stump her wits, even frighten her . . . Meghna slowly inches her way towards her dream with the help of a few friendly faces, specially that of Akash Sehgal and the co-ordinator Shomu. The work offered however is C Grade and Meghna is too much on a high horse and too educated to even consider . . .
The Big Show by ace Designer Sunny Arora becomes the turning point in Meghna's life . . . making her realize the huge distance between where she stood after so many months in Mumbai and where she needed to get . . . specially when she sees the response to Sonali Joshi walk as the Brand Ambassador of Panache . . . the big brand . . . later meeting and meeting the famous Choreographer Christine, who lets her know that her Chandigarh portfolio was a little 'Jhumri Talaiyya' though her face had potential and 'education'. . . and that only a portfolio by someone like Kartik Suri could save her . . . a portfolio that cost a fortune . . . that which Meghna had no intention or guts to ask her Mother for, even though the latter senses something on her nightly call . . . and neither is the entire money raised despite her few brushes with the strange events that pass off as work for 'models' . . . there was just one way out . . . a Lingerie Ad . . .
Meghna has her first brush with compromise . . . a moment where you shut your ear to a conscience, clinch your teeth, stop breathing for a bit and do what needs to be done . . . a lingerie ad . . . that helps her meet Janet who seemed to have perfected the art of compromise and was rather happy with it . . . an encounter and an exercise that slowly begins to change Meghna's inner world . . . as she slowly realizes that success was the end of a tunnel that had asked for one price . . . yourself . . . and Meghna was beginning to believe that success was all that mattered . . .
Meghna's gritty pursuit of success lands her with a stunning portfolio by Kartik Suri after a few hitches and finally lands her a contract with Anisha Roy's Agency – Profile . . . Grateful, relieved and a lot less nervous, Meghna now begins to chase her dream again in earnest . . . and finally lands a big show . . . her first Ramp walk that she misses by the skin of her teeth . . that of Leena Mehta
It's at Leena Mehta's post show party that Meghna bumps into the much sought after, charming, flamboyant and debonair Abhijeet Sareen . . . owner of the Panache empire whose yatch parties, calendars and derby races are the talk of Fashion Town. Sareen is known to have an eye for beauty and his sharp eye spots an isolated Meghna and instantly homes in on her . . . the fact that he is that much older and married hardly raises an eyebrow in the Fashion world though it makes Meghna a little hesitant to pursue him for work , despite Anisha Roy's advice . . . to matters stickier, Maanv has shifted to Mumbai and in a fracas, Meghna leaves the relatives' house to live in with him . . .
However, Sareen's slow but steady and covert wooing of Meghna finally makes her thaw with the cherry on the cake being Sonali replaced overnight by Meghna as the Brand Ambassador of Panache . . . as Meghna begins to ride the wave of success, she begins to change gradually with Maanav eventually walking out on her while Meghna is taken to the ramps of Paris by Sareen and returns as a Super Model and Sareen's mistress . . .
Success now takes over Meghna's personality slowly but steadily as she metamorphs from the small town girl into a Fashion Diva . . . with 5 top brands backing her, billboards with her face across flyovers, magazines, tv shows and ramp walks graced by her, Meghna was now a very famous face for the public but an envied and a slowly hateful personality for the Industry . . . her tantrums, late nights drunken sprees, notwithstanding, Meghna is now a victim of her own image in her head, manipulating deals, acting unprofessional and taking everything for granted because it all seems so eternal to her . . .
Yet life had a way of hitting every bloated ego hard and it was Meghna's turn . . . with a series of events that prove to be her undoing, Meghna loses her bearings, makes enemies out of the big names, destroys her relationship with Sareen and eventually loses her mantle as well as close friends peaking with a shocking incident that makes her lose respect for her own self . . . ending up in a nervous breakdown . . . Meghna is now a shadow of her former self, having fled from Mumbai and hibernating back home in Chandigarh . . . vacant, desireless, lifeless . . . far, far away from the madding crowd while the world moved on . . .
6 months pass.
Unable to see his daughter depressed and going to pieces, Meghna's Father finally breaks the silence, makes his peace with her and encourages her to return and pick up the threads of her life again . . . his daughter was not a quitter . . .
Meghna is now back in Mumbai . . . but all she has left behind is a pack of enemies, a set of very hurt friends, a reputation of being unprofessional, a shelf life that has nearly expired and a state of mind that was still as fragile as glass . . .
Meghna's attempt at a comeback was going to be a near impossibility . . .
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