Groomed for success

He was at sea but his heart was sinking with the knowledge that he could have attempted a title of a lifetime. He decided that come what may, he would try again the next year. From the day the humble training deck officer took that decision on board the Singapore ship till he bagged the Grasim Mr India 2005 title, Viraf Phiroz Patel was determined to train and give his best shot to the ramp ahead.

Just a month earlier his elder brother Minocher had stumbled across the entry form for Grasim Mr India 2004 and suggested that Viraf try his hand at it. Voila! Viraf was shortlisted and even went for the regional elimination round. "Unfortunately my elation came to an abrupt end when I was suddenly instructed to sail the high seas again. With another six of the 36 mandatory sea time months required, I had no other option but to write a letter to the organizers of Grasim 2004 excusing me from trying for the title. With a heavy heart and a dream ‘so close and yet so far’ I left for sea on January 20, 2004,” he recalls.

The time for the new Grasim 2005 eliminations and shortlisting dawned in December 2004. The organizers of the contest recognized Patel and smiled as he gathered the courage to try all over again. "I will always thank them for that opportunity and their faith in me,” he says. His physical and mental training were godfathered by Mickey Mehta, also known as the Fitness Guru of the country. "Mickey was extremely kind” and trained him to understand his body and help it function and look the best it could in those strenuous days of exercise and training.

The grooming bit was really interesting as that aspect was orchestrated into his own family, courtesy Mino­cher. The necessary wardrobe help was extended to him by Nivedita Sabu, an established designer from Poona, who created an entire range of outfits for him and one of her outfits won him the best dressed male first runner-up prize. Deepak Shah of MMX fashion studio designed Patel’s famous ‘pinstripe suit’ for the final evening round which raised more than an eyebrow and did well in helping him to get a distinct stage appearance.

He felt privileged to meet actor-photographer Boman Irani on one of his sets before the contest. His words too went a long way in giving Patel a good idea of how things worked in the glamor industry. "Since then I feel happy to keep him informed of my endeavors,” mentions Patel.

Things began moving fast for the Poona lad, and what started as a hobby, and an obsession at sea, and turned into a reality for him. He was adjudged the winner of Grasim Mr India 2005 on January 29. "My happiness at making my parents (Phiroz and Dolly) and loved ones proud of me knew no bounds. It was the true fulfillment of a dream. Everyone who gets on that platform comes with the dream of winning. I think the prize was a tiny bit more coveted by me because of the way I had to drop out of the Grasim 2004 pageant. This I think made me more focused and more willing to give it my all on the 2005 stage,” analyzes the winner.

Of the 15,000 applications received for the pageant the initial selections were made based on the photographs and resumes. Thereafter 500 were shortlisted for the regional rounds in Bombay, Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore. From these were selected the 28 finalists who would vie for the title — conferred on a man of substance who could be a role model, the details were posted on the website www.virafpatel. com

With actress Rani Mukherjee at the Mr India pagent Top photo by Haider Khan

"Also I believe my spirituality and faith guided me, knowing that I always gave my best and my most earnest try,” says Patel. "Mum and dad have been very loving and encouraging throughout and supportive of all that I wanted to do. Dad has always been agreeable with most of my agendas as a youn­gs­ter and even now as an adult. Mum naturally is the most important person in our lives. I feel every individual learns and understands what unconditional love is from the mother and my mum is no exception to that,” he conveys. Of his two elder brothers, Minocher is a corporate trainer and motivational speaker, while Farhad is a master mariner who since the past six years has been a business development manager for one of the leading shipping companies in Dubai. "Mino­cher and Farhad, who are 12 and nine years senior to me respectively, have always seen that my development as an individual has been complete and wide in nature, be it academics, career, games or relationships. This I believe has helped me to derive a mental balance, which I think is the essence of education and upbringing,” declares Patel.

He remembers being a rather mischievous kid constantly playing pranks, and wonders why everybody around him remembers him as this well behaved, sweet, little, polite but curious child. His teachers though definitely thought he was talkative and flirtatious. He completed his schooling from Poona’s Sardar Dastur School and then proceeded to S. M. Choksey for junior college (science stream). "I did three semesters of engineering till I realized that a branch change into mechanical engineering from electrical engineering, which I was hoping for from the start, was not possible. I then opted to join the sea on the deck side. So in September 1999, I left for my pre sea training in Delhi and in April 2000 joined my first ship,” recounts Patel.

(L to R) The Patels: (standing) Minocher and Viraf; (seated) Farhad, Phiroz, Dolly and sister-in-law Shireen. Right: In his Merchant Navy days

At sea, his life was that of a cadet who wanted to become a good, competent officer and on land it was that of someone who wanted to make the most of his leave between contracts. "So there I was dabbling in modelling, photography, anchoring, DJing encouraged by family and friends under the pretext of them being my hobbies,” says this 25-year-old Gemini candidly who mentions that no single person or factor in nature inspires him. Rather he is inspired by particular aspects of various individuals, be it J. R. D. Tata, Sachin Tendul­kar or Amitabh Bach­chan. Among the events where he served as anchor were Friends of Jehangir Hospital Charity Show in 2004, TVS Cup ‘Hit wicket get ticket’ contest — a Wizcraft event... "Viraf strives to give each event a different flavor and makes sure that he keeps and leaves his audience smiling,” notes his website.

2004 had seen Patel win the Mr University title as also a game show, The He-man Show. "What I am as a person today is a culmination of what I have learnt from my upbringing, reading, experiences and personalities that I have come across. I must say that I have been motivated by the humility of individuals,” which include Parsis like MTV presenter Cyrus Broacha, who he views as "a very helpful person. I have received a lot of guidance and encouragement from him while I was taking my first steps in the glamor industry and even today he expresses concern in my efforts.”

The current Mr India’s future plans include carving a niche for himself in the celluloid world and if it’s different and unique to his individuality, he would feel more accomplished.