From a village, then Gurukul to finally fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a model, Reeta Gaur hopes to emulate her Bareilly-raised idol, Priyanka Chopra
By Asmita Aggarwal
From the age of 13 to 22, Reeta Gaur stayed in a Gurukul, tucked away in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh as her mother wanted her to study Sanskrit and become a teacher like most in her family. But the young girl had the seeds sown of wanting to be just like Priyanka Chopra, also from Bareilly when she saw her picture in the newspaper as a young girl of 12. She was declared Ms. Universe and Gaur thought if she could make it, she too had a fighting chance.
“Staying away from home in a disciplined environment, with no TV or newspapers, limited social interaction, we were taught how to work on inner strength. I think it trained me in terms of dealing with the world, which is coming in handy now,” says Gaur, who is walking for the first time at the Lotus Make-up India Fashion Week SS’20, in association with EbixCash.
A firm believer in what American Actor Scott Caan said, “Good things happen when you get your priorities straight”. And this was instilled in her since her father’s death and mother raising four children alone. “My father was a farmer and after his death, agriculture was the financial mainstay, we didn’t have much money for any kind of luxuries sometimes even the basics were not met. Education was important, we siblings were the only four from the village, who went to the city to study. Most girls back home were not encouraged to get into academics and most got married at 18, or even younger,” she explains.
After B.ED from an institution in Delhi, Reeta chose to be a Sanskrit teacher in one of the government schools of Delhi Administration. “Despite opposition and most of my family not talking to me I decided to join modelling. My mom has softened a bit but my orthodox relatives keep riling her against my choice of work and sometimes she gets furious and asks me to get married telling me I am 26 and need to settle down,” she confides.
Modelling, she believes is where she gets the opportunity to meet new people, travel, each day brings in something different, but when she began, there was no blueprint to follow. “When I first came to Delhi I was scared to cross the road alone, those were the toughest years filled with loneliness. Today I like being alone, so human beings adapt to situations. I used to wait endlessly outside agency offices for assignments and only a few came my way,” she adds.
Helped by choreographer Liza Varma, she got ramp shows and then did campaigns for DLF Properties, Oppo phone, and Mother Diary and as she has always been keen on acting, she joined Arvind Gaur’s theatre group Asmita for a workshop. Many small-town girls feel intimidated by English speaking big city girls who enter modelling with their expensive designer bags, foreign degrees, and accent, but Reeta believes language is just a means of communication, and her biggest strength is resilience, even though she has no Godfather in this industry.
Hoping to work in art films like her inspirations while growing up Naseer-ud-din Shah, Irfan Khan, and Manoj Bajpayee, the ultimate aim is to emulate PC. “She is married to a rock star, she worked hard to get to where she is, paving the way for girls like us to be able to dream big. You know the world survives on hope and I will never give up,” she concludes.