She is a one of eight children, half Indian and half Australian. Dangerously attractive and prodded by her sister to model in India, she decided to give it a shot. She never looked back.
Lisa Hayden is tall, beautiful and has what it takes to be a model anywhere. She was accepted into this industry immediately. With her initial ads of Hero Honda and the Elle cover between 2007 and 2008, she became one of India’s rare supermodels. We don’t have too many left, as the trend of supermodels is almost non-existent. Most commercials and endorsements go to movie stars, and commercial assignments for models are far and few. “I did not think I would ever be a part of Bollywood, but today it is people’s day to day life. Even the most popular serious columnists review movies,” she laughed. She is right.
Somebody who has seven siblings is definitely on a good footing to face the outside world of show business, which is an uphill battle full of insecurity and the likes. I am a product of a big family of four children and never really felt the need for friends. “Friends are important but being so many in a family you just don’t have the time or feel the need for friends,” she admitted. “My mother is close to me and has been a great influence on me. My younger siblings are in their teens and I feel I need to be around for them,” said this older sister who is like a mother hen to the young in her family. This strong family bond will be her redeeming factor in this competitive and cutthroat world of showbiz.
I approached her to do this chat when I saw her recently during the fashion week emerge several times as a showstopper. There is a difference between when you have been a model and a part of the group, and when you cease to be one of the many and walk at the end having become a star. Lisa made her debut in Aishaa. “At first, I was stared at backstage, as if ‘what is she doing here’ and ‘she does not belong here anymore’, but after chatting and catching up, it was normal again,” she said relieved.
Unfortunately while fashion mixes with Bollywood, there is definitely a different grading backstage too. You have your own makeup artist and your room and the treatment meted out to you is that of a celebrity. So it is different and I was proud to see Lisa being one of the girls to raise the bar for herself.
“Not being typically ‘heroine’-looking, you get typecast with a sexy image,” she said, something I may not necessarily agree with. There are many actresses who entered via that box and now the sky is the limit.
Lisa studied acting in New York to get a better grasp of the new world she was getting into. “There was and still is so much to learn and I want to keep learning. Abhay Deol told me on the sets: ‘Lisa, whatever you have learnt and prepared… let it go, understand your character and be in the present.’ And that’s what I tried to do,” she admitted.
“The experience of living for a period of time with everyone in the crew is different. You share your time, food and thoughts with people you are not close to,” she said. “Sometimes it is difficult to keep that up later.” Especially I would imagine for someone with seven other siblings and a special love in her life. “Karan has been my great source of strength and support,” she said.