The Indian Ethnic Co. has become the talk of the town with its love for Indian handloom clothing. Co-founded by the mother-daughter duo Hetal Desai and Lekhinee Desai, this unique brand has been garnering much attention from its dance reels on Instagram. Featuring in those short videos is another daughter, Twaraa Desai, a medical student and an Odissi dancer. Twaraa models for the brand, fashioning beautiful handloom sarees and other collections.
In an exclusive interview with News Karnataka, the dancer talked about her experience.
From being a medical student to a model
Twaraa wanted to become a doctor since she was a child. “I used to give my dadi her insulin shots and medicines from a very young age and that’s what got me interested,” she said. In school, she loved Science and Biology. The understanding of the subject came very naturally to her. Although MBBS is a rather difficult course, Twaraa manages to multitask pretty well since she has been doing so from a very young age. “I always manage to make time for the things I love and want to do,” she contended.
Twaraa has been doing advertisements and photoshoots since she was three years old. She started with Whirlpool and continued to do ads in Bombay as well as Chennai. “I actually never loved doing shoots, but my mom always pushed me to go for it as it was important to do something beyond academics. At the same time she always made sure my studies were never compromised,” she asserted. Twaraa affirmed that she didn’t face any difficulties as she used to act and model only when it was convenient for her. She said, “I always knew that this wasn’t what I wanted to do ahead in life, so it was like a hobby for me.”
Twaraa never really wanted to become a model as such, so she hasn’t really focused on lifestyle changes, something that other commercial models often have to pay heed to. “It’s just something I do for The Indian Ethnic Co as it’s our family business, and there’s flexibility in the schedule that is not possible elsewhere,” she explained.
Dancing and acting
Twaraa loves dancing. She is a trained Odissi dancer and started learning the art form at the age of 5. She expressed, “I started dancing only because of my sister, she is a trained Odissi and folk dancer. Later on I wanted to learn more styles so I also started learning Jazz and contemporary.” This very talent of her’s took her to perform short choreographies to melodious desi songs sporting handloom sarees from The Indian Ethinc Co. Founded by her mother and sister, it was a home company where she could showcase her talent along with the products of the company. They were a bedroom startup, with her mother sourcing the fabric and designing it and her sister marketing the products. Twaraa used to do the modelling since she was already a known face and had experience with the same.
“My dad always wanted us to use dance as a tool to showcase our products as both of us were trained and it would be a unique way to market it, but we never got the time. Finally during the lockdown, and after Instagram introduced the ‘Reel’ feature we thought it was the best time to launch our very first saree collection by showcasing it with dance,” she said.
Speaking of the company, The Indian Ethnic Co, Twaara mentioned that the brand has always believed in portraying real women, so they never really hired any professional models. “It’s always been my sister, her friends and I who have done the modelling. This factor has actually helped us as it’s something that everyone can relate to. I love how The Indian Ethnic Co pioneered the marketing idea of using dance to showcase the products, giving the brand a unique touch,” she maintained.
Twaraa’s very first ad in the south – Ganpati Silks was directed by A. K. Vijay. She also did a movie named Kanjivaram starring Prakash Raj which was directed by Priyadarshan in which Vijay sir was an assistant director. “After a few years he saw me in an ad and that’s when he contacted me for the role of Abirami in the movie ‘Saivam.’ He is one of the best directors I have worked for. So I didn’t hesitate even for a second before taking up the project,” she said. She disclosed that Saivam is and always will be very close to her heart but acting is not something that she loves. “For now I want to focus on completing my education and becoming a doctor, but I do want to keep dancing and modelling,” Twaraa signed off.
