Vish' come true, Mr World!

He’s the epitome of what everything in the phrase ‘tall, dark and handsome’ stands for. The young and suave Vishnu Raj S Menon from Bengaluru was crowned as Peter England Mr India World by Hrithik Roshan at a star-studded evening in Mumbai this week. He is now all set to make India proud on a global pageant. We speak to Vishnu about the pageant, the challenges he faced and his success mantra.

The handsome hunk is not all about brawn but brains too. The 25-year-old model shares, “I’ve completed my engineering from MVJ College of Engineering and loved attending the fests in college. I’m from Thrissur, Kerala, but I’ve been in Bengaluru for seven years. I’m six feet one inch tall and have always been a fitness junkie. My inspiration to get into modelling came from my fellow gym mates from the first gym I joined in Bengaluru. He was a successful model and I got inspired to take up modelling. I soon started modelling by doing college shows and can never forget the feeling of that high I got after my first show. I would get that strange sort of happiness after my shows and this sense of craziness in this field kept pulling me like a magnet. That’s when I knew I wanted to take up modelling seriously. Ramp became my new found love and also my greatest ambition.”

Ask Vishnu on the challenges that came his way and he reveals, “Prasad Bidapa groomed me and I admire his pleasing and nurturing personality. I got to know him more during the Unlimited Model Hunt 2016. He has been a great mentor throughout. I still remember after getting shortlisted as one of the Bengaluru finalists, he knew I had a long way to go when he told me “I have high hopes on you”. I’m very grateful to him and Kevin Oliver for believing in me.”

Still reeling in the revelry of winning the Mr India 2016 title, Vishnu states on an ecstatic note, “The finale show and all the photoshoots  were phenomenal. I also loved walking the ramp for the Unlimited Model Hunt 2016. I still can’t get over the fact that I bagged the title. The experience is inexplicable. The entire journey right from the sub contests to the tough competition and the grooming has given my confidence a big boost. It’s an incredible achievement for me as all the time, effort, dedication I put in has finally paid off. I feel very privileged and humbled. Hrithik Roshan was such an amazing personality with so much energy. He came up to me and congratulated me. He also said, “I can see how much hard work you have put in to reach here. You deserve it!” He walked the ramp with me and was very supportive. Each of the finalists was good in their own way, but I believe it was my confidence and focus that I had throughout that gave me the winning edge over others. I’m now preparing for Mr World 2017 and putting in a lot of hard work to win the title for India.”

When he’s not walking the ramp, the civil engineer by profession adds, “I love gymming, football, music and good food. I had an interest in buildings and wanted to know what exactly it takes to work behind the scenes of making the buildings.”