Sheetal Mallar is an Indian model and photographer. She has been a part of the modelling industry for almost a decade. In 1994, she won the title of Femina look of the year and Elite Look of the year. She was also placed among the 12 finalists in the Elite Supermodel Contest. After her career in modelling came to a pause, she started photography professionally.
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Wiki/Biography
Sheetal Mallar was born on Tuesday, 23 April 1974 (age 47 years; as of 2021) in Bombay (now Mumbai). Her Zodiac sign is Taurus.
Sheetal Mallar as a child with her mother
Sheetal Mallar when she was six years old
She completed her schooling at Canossa Convent School in Mumbai. To pursue B.Com., she went to Sydenham College in Mumbai. During her school days, she used to stammer due to which her classmates made fun of her. At the age of 25, to recover from the stammering problem, she took speech therapy classes. She was never sure about making a career in modelling but, when she was in the third year of her graduation, she left her studies and started focusing on her career as a model. In an interview, she said that her father got upset with her decision of leaving her studies but as soon as she won the titles, he was happy. After she won the titles in 1994, she went to New York and worked there for about two years. When she came back to India, she was offered various projects. She became a famous model of that time.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 10″
Weight (approx.): 60 kg
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Body Measurements (approx.): 34-26-34
Family
Sheetal Mallar belongs to a Billava family in Bangalore.
Parents & Siblings
Sheetal Mallar`s father worked as a corporate lawyer with Johnson & Johnson for a long time. Later, he started his own practice.
Sheetal Mallar`s father
Sheetal Mallar as a child with her father and brother
Her mother Vasanthi Mallar, is an Entrepreneur.
Sheetal Mallar`s mother
Her grandmother used to visit their house and take care of Sheetal and her brother. Sheetal`s brother`s name is Rahul Mallar. She shares a close bond with him.
Sheetal Mallar with her brother
Husband & Children
On 16 February 2001, Sheetal Mallar got married to Mose Navaraa (Italian Tennis player). They were together for 3 years (till 2004) and eventually got divorced.
Sheetal Mallar with her husband
Address
She lives in a large apartment that is situated in Bandra (upscale northwest Mumbai suburb of Bandra).
Career
Modelling Career
Sheetal started her career in the 1990s when she turned 16 years old. One of her friends took her photograph to the photographer Gautam Rajadhyaksha’s studio. At that time, he was shooting for Danabai Jewellers and there was a requirement for a child bride. He chose to shoot with Sheetal and she received the campaign. After she came to notice, she started getting a lot of work. She modelled for various big brands like Maybelline, Fendi, and Armani. In 1994, she won the Femina look of the year and Elite Look of the year.
Model turned Photographer
After having a prominent name in the modelling industry, Sheetal turned her interest into photography. She started clicking pictures that represented culture, Indian cinema, etc. Sharing about her decision of becoming a photographer, she said in an interview,
I guess I was always into art and painting and almost always carried a camera. When I was modelling, I travelled a lot and took a lot of travel pictures. And then I had a lot of photographer friends and always visited these beautiful places (for shoots and ad campaigns). So I don’t really know when and where I picked up this passion, but at some point I thought it made sense for me to pick up a camera. I’m hoping this will be my new career.”
She also shared that once she clicked of her grandmother that made her realize that the bond and understanding gets stronger between two people, so she choose to become a photographer. She shares her photographs on the Instagram page (Sheetal Mallar Studio) and on her official site. Dambolim, Alone Together, and Transients are the projects shot by Sheetal. In the project Dambolim, Sheetal captures pictures of the Navy that works in Dambolim Naval Base in Goa.
Picture taken by Sheetal for project Dambolim
The project Alone Together took 10 years to complete. She shot pictures of her family and friends when she started the project.
Picture taken by Sheetal for project Alone Together
Transient is a project that shows the temporary phases of a person`s life.
Picture taken by Sheetal for her project Transient
Facts/Trivia
Some of the things Sheetal likes to do in her free time is Reading, Cycling, Practicing Yoga.
She has a butterfly tattoo inked on the right side of her waist.
Sheetal Mallar`s butterfly tattoo
She does not smoke but she drinks alcohol on various occasions and gatherings.
She has been a part of many commercial advertisements that include Wild Stone.
Sharing her views on the changes in the industry in the last few years, she said,
I think it was better earlier when I started out. There were fewer models and more work. The money was sufficient and you could actually make a living out of being a model. These days, though the industry has grown in size, there are so many models that work doesn’t necessarily come by very easily. Also with cricketers, film stars and even television actors turning to modelling there is very little work for models. Male models for instance hardly have any work today and even the younger female models — especially the ones who come from abroad — are willing to work at very low rates. It is difficult to survive as a model in today’s times.”
She has been on good terms with some of the actors and designers since she started her career. Some of them include Kiran Rao, Bhavna Sharma, Diandra Soares, Rohit Bal, Carol Gracias, Lakshmi Menon, and photographers Farrokh Chothia, Bharat Sikka, Prabuddha Dasgupta.
Sheetal was studying commerce but once, in an interview, she revealed that she did not like commerce but was interested in Arts.
In an interview, she shared her experience of working in New York and said,
I was sick of hearing the word ‘ethnic’. For the longest time they would approach me only when they needed an ethnic girl. They’d put a bindi on me and shoot. It was quite tiring actually. New York wasn’t ready for Indian models. Paris and Milan, on the other hand, were.”
In 2013, she was to star in the movie Madras Cafe with John Abraham.