CSB Xclusive! Sahil Anand Arora

For most of us, when we bump into a fashion spread of a sexy guy, we get curious to know more about him. And then there are some bunch like 'yours truly' who get into a search mode on who clicked the snap. While being entranced by the sight of the gorgeous hunk and the creativity of the photographer, it doesn't come to us to think about those 'artists' who the make the models camera-ready, giving them a flawless look. CSB Xclusive! presents to you one such unsung hero.


Sahil Anand Arora does make up and hair styling for models for their fashion shoots. He also train modelling and self-grooming. When I first saw his pictures, I got totally smitten by his looks. This guy is the perfect blend of being uber cute and handsome (not to forget his gorgeous bod). So I approached him, asked whether he would be interested in being featured on CSB. And Ooh la la! Here he is!!

24 year old Sahil was born and brought up in Calcutta, India in a Punjabi family. He shifted to Delhi seven years ago for studies and was working as a freelancer for the past two years. He then realized Mumbai could offer much more in terms of contacts and opportunities and that pushed him to relocate to the Bollywood-city.

It's been only 5 months since he did that and things are already shaping up well for him. Here he met the illustrious fashion photographer, Sayan Sur Roy. Sayan saw that Sahil had the potential to be a model. Surprisingly Sahil happens to be camera-shy and it was Sayan who made him comfortable to pose for snaps.

And as you can see from the photos splashed across this post, Sayan was indeed right!

Sahil, thanks a lot for sharing these pics. Hope we can see you pretty soon on those ramps and billboards. So here's wishing you all the very best. Go for it and give us many more shots that will leave us spell-bound!

Photographs #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #9 (from the top) shot by Noor Khan & Photograph #8 by Sayan Sur Roy. Click them for their complete and higher resolution versions.

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Indians Being Homophobic And More

There is a strong intolerance brewing in India. Probably, it was always there, probably I was ignorant about it, but now the frequency by which it makes headlines almost every other day makes me sit up and wonder, what is frikkin' wrong with us? Why are we so hell-bent in intruding other’s personal lives and decisions? By some twisted justification given in the name of ‘honour’, mothers and fathers kill their daughters and sons, brothers take the lives of their sisters and brother-in-laws, and relatives decide the fate of young couples. [link][link][link][link]

What is more shocking is the fact these people have no remorse for their bloody actions and firmly believe what they did was right. I can’t help but look at them with the same lens that I see terrorists who slaughter in the name of ‘jannat’ and take pride about their heinous acts.

Last year's gay parade at New Delhi. Courtesy: Associated Press

Post striking down section 377, it is encouraging to see journalists being more open to writing about homosexuality. On July 2nd, which marked the one year anniversary of the landmark High Court judgement, Indian dailies extensively discussed about matters concerning gays. The stories mostly reflected on the hopes and dreams of millions of Indian gays - to be accepted for what they are without any grudge. Celine Jaitley, the actress and gay rights activist, penned a wonderful piece on Hindustan Times trying to make readers see that this is not just about gay rights, but about human rights. (Read the article here.) But I still get that irking feeling when the word “choice” gets mingled in this whole debate. Deciding which flavour of ice cream one wants is a CHOICE, but to be GAY or STRAIGHT is NOT. Homosexuality and choice do not sit on the same boat. Period!

Though there were numerous articles that touched upon homosexuality very positively, I’m not sure how many got read by those who hold the prejudice. And the reason? The photos used for these articles were supporting the stereotypical beliefs. If I were a homophobe, and I see an article about homosexuality with a snap that enforces my prejudiced believes, would I be challenging myself to see situations differently? May be the transgendered and cross-dressers are more “camera-friendly”, but I feel that the media should resist the temptation of magnifying stereotypes. A picture indeed screams a thousand words and we badly want to see something that we can identify with.

Harish Iyer (centre) with his colleagues at Shobiz. Courtesy: Economic Times

With that said, the above image which appeared on Economic Times for the article that discussed about how things are finally changing for gays in the Indian workplace, was refreshing; thanks to Harish and Bharat Chanda (the photographer).

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The New Face Of Indian Homophobia
An Equal Love
The Right To Do "I Do"

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