Walking down the catwalk and being the focus of attention all around would scare the wits out of anyone. But being a professional with a strikingly pleasant smile, Nadia Hussain takes it all in her stride.
It has been five years when she first emerged in a commercial and has since never looked back. In this short period she has emerged as a strong and determined person, this in turn has helped her mould into one of Pakistan’s finest models.
However, as she puts it, she is one of the lucky few who have found their paths unhindered by any major hurdles and difficulties. “I was fortunate enough... I ended up meeting the right kind of people, who were not mean and menacing at all, everything just gradually happened to me.”
Spending her time relaxing with her new-born-son at home, Nadia is blissful and cheerful. Though she is uncertain about how she is going to manage everything, she is determined not to shut the doors of her career upon herself. “I will continue to work, and that is for sure,” determinedly says she holding her newborn in her arms.
Nadia is not one of those who watch movies according to genre. She goes for anything that she finds intriguing enough. And above all, she is not charmed by the romantic movies as most women are. “I only prefer romantics or movies with light subjects when I am in the mood to relax,” explains Nadia.
Wimbledon was the movie that she last saw and on inquiring how was the whole experience, she replies “just ok”, nothing special to rave about I guess. Her adored movie stands out to be The Matrix and it is not only the special effects of the film that she adores, in fact, she likes everything concerning it, especially the concept and its hero — Keanu Reeves. The sequels, however, weren’t that interesting. Besides The Matrix, The Minority Report defines her taste. She has a long list of favourites in acting though, comprising of Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts, Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Rekha and Talat Hussain.
Not surprisingly, she is not familiar with the Pakistani flicks, but she is not the one who would blame the movies or the industry for it. She was barely six when she last saw a Pakistani movie. “I do read reviews of movies like Salakhain in the newspapers but somehow I do not find any motivation spurring up in me to watch them,” reveals she.
Reading is what she would love to do more. However, she does try to take some time out of her busy schedule for her most adored hobby. Her choice for books is as diverse as that for movies. Nadia shows no hesitation at all in reading anything ranging from fiction, non-fiction, intellectual and mystery. She is not among those who would only go for books that are written by famous writers as she reveals her secret of how she picks out a book for herself, “I usually look at the back cover and read the blurb or reviews written there, and decide for myself, whether I am impressed by it, or not”. But at times, this has proven to be deceiving too, as she recalls an incident when she bought a book by a Pakistani writer, on cyber cafes, which by reading the back cover, she assumed was about the boom of cyber cafes. On the contrary, it turned out to be a poorly done love story. “This was a recent one, but I have been deceived by this trick many times earlier on,” Nadia says with a laugh.
One of her most appreciated books is Veronica Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho. Nadia says that the story is very stimulating and the plot fast moving. “Its story is woven around a girl who decides to commit suicide, but, somehow, she survives. The way she struggles with life in her last days, is what glues you to the novel,” reveals the model.
Among others she likes to read are books by Jeffery Arthur and Saul Bellow. Tell her to name one book as her favourite and she replies, “Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder. It is an interesting way of absorbing the theories by the famous philosophers of the world.
Describing her taste for music she declares she has no affection for hard-rock, heavy metal or trance. What she does like is soft-rock and pop. When asked about the last cassette or CD she bought, she replied: “I haven’t bought a CD for some time now, and that is due to the reason that I spend most of my time listening to the radio. Indian movie tracks like that of Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai are fancies the most.”
Hariharan, Alka Yagnik, Josh and Sonu Nigham (for whom she says that she doesn’t like his looks and only his voice is what she finds agreeable) are singers that Nadia finds in accord with her taste. Whereas, Mahie Ve of the movie Kal Ho Na Ho is a tune that she enjoys listening to these days. On being queried, if she does have an appetite for ghazals or old melodies, comes an interesting explanation: “Well I can’t say that I don’t like ghazals as my aunt is a well known ghazal singer (Tina Sani) and I do find the goldies of Indian and Pakistani music pleasing enough. But it is the Indian that I cherish more.”
Her favourite western singers are Dave Mathews, U2, Nelly Futardo and Dido. Nelly Futardo’s I’m Like a Bird is her favourite Western number. And as for Pakistani music, she has a positive outlook and does think that the experimentation that is taking place by the new singers and groups like Fuzon and Ali Zafar is good. Nadia finds listening to the same singer or track whole day long quite boring and intolerable, therefore she keeps switching from one singer to another.
FAVOURITE BOOK: Sophie’s World by Justein Gaardner
Walking down the catwalk and being the focus of attention all around would scare the wits out of anyone. But being a professional with a strikingly pleasant smile, Nadia Hussain takes it all in her stride.
