People-watching at the Ford Models open casting in Mumbai

On Saturday, while the world seemed to be swarming outside Swatch stores to get their hands on the AP X Swatch Royal Pop collab, a large crowd of better-than-average-looking people in black tees and tanks are walking into Jio World Drive in BKC, Mumbai, for a different reason. Ford Models, the New York-based modelling agency that has offices in Los Angeles, Paris, and Barcelona, among others, are in Mumbai scouting a new face through an open casting call. At the end of today, 20 people will be shortlisted for a final round of judging, after which one lucky model girl (or boy) will be signed with the agency that famously discovered names like Candice Bergen, Lauren Hutton, Veruschka, Naomi Campbell, and many more from the supermodel hall of fame.

For now, though, it’s 34°C, the sun is glaring down on us, and it’s aggressively humid. While the open casting was meant to start at noon, throngs of models have already arrived much earlier. By 11:30 am, there are already dozens of tall, lanky, and intimidatingly photogenic teenagers with large backpacks and rolling suitcases sweating outside a white tent. There’s a long queue of models grabbing, filling out forms, and getting circular stickers with a number on them to slap onto their T-shirts. The atmosphere feels less like a fashion event and more like the waiting area for a competitive exam, which, in some sense, it kind of is.

Eventually, the line of models begins snaking into the air-conditioned tent, which is doing its best to stay cool. Inside, there’s a short black carpet runway at the end of which sits the judges’ table. Before the event starts, I ask the judges if they can actually tell if someone has ‘it’ in three seconds. “Yes! It’s all about the first impression,” says Fabio Monceri, senior image manager at Ford NYC and Barcelona. “Of course, beauty and proportion are very important, but it’s really about the energy and how you carry yourself in a room.”

“We can see something and love it, but sometimes we can be wrong too,” adds Phonethip Sisavath, an agent on the Ford Paris Women Board. “They need to be very confident. I know it’s hard, because sometimes they’re really young girls, but they need to pretend that they are confident for even those five seconds. Of course, a beautiful girl is good, but the competition is very strong, so confidence and personality are important.”

Victoria Da Silva, CEO of Le Grand Casting, is on hand to welcome the models with a little speech. Soon, the DJ starts playing “I Got a Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas. It’s a sign that the procession is about to begin. One by one, the models step out onto the runway for a total of 10 seconds. The runway is quite short, but it’s long enough for the scouts to know if they like what they see. Each group has about 10 participants, who line up in front of the banner after everyone from the group has walked. “From this group, we’ve picked Ethan, number 5, please step forward,” a judge announces into the mic. The selected model walks to the judges’ table, thanks them, and goes in the back to collect a Ford Models T-shirt and have his profile shots taken outside. The remaining nine are ushered out quickly. This happens for a couple of rounds, until Da Silva says, “Unfortunately, we didn’t pick anyone from this group. Thank you for coming!” and the whole line of hopefuls is dismissed. It’s brutal to watch.

About 30 minutes in, it’s obvious that some participants have wandered in from the mall just for the plot. Two men in office shirts and formal trousers strut down the runway and strike contrived poses at the end. The judges don’t look amused. One model appears first in heels, then barefoot. She stands in the lineup with pointed toes, like Margot Robbie in Barbie, but with less success. She is not selected.

Not everyone, of course, is just casually trying their luck. Plenty of hopefuls have travelled from all over the country specifically for this casting. I meet a 16-year-old from Nasik, who is here with her mother. An 18-year-old boy from Goa arrived in Mumbai by bus this morning. Another model from Uttarakhand tells me he only made it because he was already in the city for another shoot and the client covered his travel.

Around 1:15 pm, we are asked to go grab lunch at the mall. It’s too hot to eat properly, so my teammate, Erin, and I end up getting cold coffees at Starbucks instead. “Do you know a cheap restaurant where I can grab lunch? This mall is very bougie,” the model from Goa asks me. I suggest the cheapest, healthy-adjacent option I can think of, Pret. When we return to the scene a half hour later, we spot a bunch of models munching on RiteBite Max Protein bars they bought from Freshpik, the grocery store in the mall. One model has bought and eaten an entire hand of bananas. “Contrary to popular belief, models do eat,” one of the models who has managed to make it to the next round tells me. “It’s not about skipping food and calling yourself a model. It’s about having toned skinniness,” he says, adding that he ate a sandwich for lunch.

Outside the tent, shortlisted models have taken off their shoes and are getting their heights measured. Others are making video content with their friends, doing runway walks and dancing in front of their phones. “Over 500 people have registered, and only one will get selected,” a model tells me as we sit outside watching profiles get shot. “It’s really unfair,” he laments.

By 3:30 the tent is a lot more crowded. The seats are full, and someone from the audience has just been picked out, given a numbered sticker, and asked to proceed to have their pictures taken. Murmurs ripple through the lines. Just after 4 pm, another gaggle of tall people walks towards the registration desk, which is surprisingly still open. Our time here is up, but it’s likely that this ordeal is going to carry on for a while. We walk back into the mall and wonder how they’re going to survive another round of selections in the heat, because we’re pooped. The glamour, if there is any, appears to arrive much later.