Tarun Nijjer: At nineteen, a top model

Some have a simple start to their careers while others’ start with a bang. And 20-year-old Tarun Nijjer falls in the latter category, when at 19 he became the first Indian male model to open and close a Burberry show, in 2014.

 

Born and brought up in London, Tarun, who is part Punjabi and British, says that modelling was never on his mind. “I was at a music festival in UK, it was there that my modelling agency spotted me; I was signed up immediately, but I didn’t really pursue it as I was still at school,” says Tarun.

 

Though he was signed when he was 16, he got his first break at 19. “It just so happened that the first job I was booked for was to open and close the Burberry show – crazy! I didn’t really face many challenges up to that point as I wasn’t really trying to break into modelling with much enthusiasm,” he says.

 

Despite having modelled for various brands like Tom Ford, Marks and Spencer, Harper’s Bazaar India, Elle US and Elle India, Tarun maintains that studies keep him very busy. “I just finished my second year at the University of Bristol studying English Literature, that actually takes up a lot more of my time,” he says.

 

Many models in India become actors, but Tarun, who will be in the country in 2016, says he hasn’t received any scripts yet. “I haven’t received any offers as of now, but I’d be interested in listening to some proposals if the chance ever arose,” he says.