Itishree Misra (BOMBAY TIMES; February 23, 2020)

Supermodel, actor and now a fitness icon, Milind Soman recently visited Lucknow as the brand ambassador of a half marathon. He was accompanied by his wife, Ankita Konwar.

Ask him why he is off the screen these days, and he says that although he’s not off TV or films, he is doing less of it. He says, “Whenever I find the time, I do some acting. I am doing some series for the web, plus there’s also my show in which I am the judge, so there’s plenty happening on that front. I can’t be an actor for 300 days in a year. After 40-50 days, it becomes difficult to manage the time and the dates. I can’t give my weekends because then I’m mostly travelling. So, to only be able to give weekdays and then also say that I can’t give more than 20 days in a month, I feel is not fair to the makers. I’ll do maybe one project in a year. But theatre and theatrical movies have become less, because people want one to be there whenever they are called, which I am not, most of the times.”

The 53-year-old married 28-year-old Ankita Konwar in April 2018. The couple often shares pictures on social media. The two are also active running partners. Talking about his marriage, Milind says, “Married life has been amazing. I would say nothing much has changed, except that now I don’t take decisions based on my own desires. Once you get married, you have to think about the other person as well. You have to take them into confidence and discuss things with them.”

Ask him if he plans to go the family way, and he says, “I don’t have any plans to extend the family, but Ankita definitely does. We do discuss about having a baby, so let’s see.”

A champion for the cause of fitness and running, Milind says that his inspiration is his mom, Usha Soman, who is 74 years old and still participates in several marathons. “Not just me, my mother has inspired so many people. I, too, am amazed about how she has managed her whole life, and now, she’s into fitness,” says Milind adding that when it comes to fitness, age is no bar. “It’s all in the mind. If you decide to do it, you can. In fact, we had an event in Bengaluru called the Grandmother’s 10K, which was a 10-kilometre run only for grandmothers. That was a huge success, and it was inspiring because you look at grandmoms differently then. Normally, you see senior citizens walking or perhaps jogging, but when you think of grandmothers, you think of them as sitting at home, making achaar or knitting, you don’t think of them running in marathons. The whole idea is to break the mindset that you can’t do certain things after you cross a certain age. If you want to, you can and you must. We also had the Sari Runs where women were running on the streets in saris. So, it’s all about going beyond these mental taboos and stereotypes; most of these limitations are in the mind, very few are physical or material difficulties.”

An RSS student, national-level swimmer, supermodel, chain smoker, marathoner and (practically) every woman's fantasy, Milind Soman recalls the many lives he has chased in a just-released memoir
Jane Borges (MID-DAY; January 12, 2020)

The last time we saw Milind Soman was at Marine Drive four years ago, on a Sunday morning. His running shorts and tee clinging to his body, he sprinted past onlookers, some of them sizing him up. This writer had just begun to actively use her feet. It was the only time, Soman and she had something in common.

When we meet the former model, actor and now marathoner at his Santa Cruz East office, a lot has changed. At 32, we can barely run—the excuse is our collapsing body. Fifty four-year-old Soman is still hanging in there, like the solid branch of an ageing tree. There is reason to be in awe. But, we have decided we won't fawn. Fresh from reading his memoir, Made In India (Penguin Random House), where he writes, "no interview with a female journalist... has ever begun without her first saying something complimentary about my looks," we are determined to keep things different.

And yet, when Soman shows up 25 minutes after the scheduled 2 pm time, in distressed jeans and a jacket with popped collar, requesting another 10 minutes, we thaw—generously obliging. When he is back, we say nothing about his looks, and congratulate him on the book, which he has co-written with Roopa Pai.

Publishing house Penguin had approached Soman years ago, to write his story. But he recalls dragging his feet. "I had no struggle [to speak of]. Or at least the kind, that would have shaped my life [or merited a book]. What would I talk about?"

It was Raga Olga D'silva, friend and co-founder of his firm, Speaking Minds—which provides a range of motivational speakers to corporate clients—who convinced him to write. Pai came on board, because Soman, who says he is fairly new to social media, chanced upon her post on his Facebook timeline. "I read stories she had written about sportspersons, who were representing India at the Olympics. They were very short, but the essence of their personalities was apparent. I was very inspired. I later went to her page and read all her stories," he says. At the time, Soman didn't know that Pai was a published author. The memoir is the result of lengthy interviews between the two.

Soman speaks of a childhood spent in London and later Bombay, the indulgences that come with modelling, and a new lease of life as a marathoner. The book has moments of self-introspection, as most memoirs are wont to. Soman, who seems like to like giving credit where due, says that Pai did a good job at vocalising his thoughts. "It sounds like me."


With mother Usha; 2019

It's most likely that he has excluded important chapters from his life, "just because I couldn't remember them". "I live in the moment. My wife [Ankita Konwar] tells me that I have a bad memory... all wives say that," he says, plainly. "But yes, I don't remember things that I did yesterday or even last week. So for me, to think what I 20 years ago, wasn't exciting. The highest point of my life so far was in 1984, when I won my first national [swimming] championship. I was 18. I think, nothing has exceeded that feeling, although I have done so much since. That's a bit sad."

Soman moved to Mumbai, as an eight year old, in 1973. While he felt like an "outlier", because he spoke with a British accent, he writes glowingly of his childhood—one that involved rigour and discipline. He was training to be a professional swimmer, and would eventually go on to represent India at the The South Asian Games. But, growing up in the Maharashtrian neighbourhood of Shivaji Park meant walking in the light of the rest. His father, an employee of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, who he calls Baba, enrolled him in the local RSS shakha, because he was a "great believer in the benefits that would accrue to a young boy, in terms of disciplined living." Soman remembers it as a fun experience. "I talk about everything as being fun," he laughs. "But the RSS then, was all about games and exercises. Discipline was also a big thing—that you have to listen, be obedient, respect your parents and elders. We also learned stick fighting and attended camps. It wasn't religious, dogmatic, racist or negative," he says, admitting that he is a "little surprised" when he reads reports concerning the social organisation today. "I don't discount it. I didn't study their philosophy or what their mission was. For me, it was a good experience. And the people I was with, were good people."

As a 21-year-old, his life took a dramatic turn, when following a tiff with his Indian coach, his name was not considered for the 1986 Asian Games. It's the one thing he regrets. "I would have loved to represent India. I think it was my fault [arguing]. I should have been smarter. It's always about how you deal with a situation. I didn't deal with it correctly," he says.

In between 1986—the year he considered giving up professional swimming—and 2009, Soman became the poster-boy of Indian modelling, a gay icon, an actor, film and television producer and successful full marathon runner. Nothing, however, brought him more joy, than the dismissal of a case in November 2009, against him and former girlfriend Madhu Sapre for the infamous Tuff shoes advertisement, where the two had posed in the buff. He points out in the book that the ad would have gone unnoticed, had it not been for an article in this very paper on July 23, 1995, which reproduced the image of the ad, with an article on the controversy. "That was when the s**t really hit the fan," he writes. The court battle dragged on for 14 years.


With Madhu Sapre; 2006

The modelling years may have brought Soman stardom, but it's also the first time that he threw caution to the wind. Alcohol, drugs and smoking, became commonplace. It's that one time when aai, his mother Usha, who until then had been supportive of his choice of career to his girlfriends, disapproved. "She has always been there. She is a solid backbone. It's not like she ever told any of us [Milind and his three sisters] what to do. She just led by example. Also, I don't listen to people, even if it's my mother. And she respects that," he says. "Yes, she was against alcohol and tobacco; all mothers are. But I was at that phase of my life, where I was surrounded by people who encouraged it. I used to drink a lot. I'd come home drunk and she would be horrified. But, I never smoked or drank at home. I didn't want to make it worse for her," he says. He admits to smoking 30 cigarettes a day. "I was that stupid, yes." But because of the subconscious guilt about smoking—his father was a hard smoker—he says he never actually bought himself a single cigarette through those years. "I have an addictive obsessive personality, but I am able to get in and out without scarring myself. I try whatever there is to try."

A year after the annual Mumbai Marathon launched in 2004, marked another chapter for Soman. It was like going back to his childhood, he says. He continued doing the half marathons annually for the next five years, before he took the full plunge. While he completed the race in 4 hours 47 minutes and 44 seconds, he collapsed a few kilometres from the finish line. "That was the only time I really struggled to achieve something. It was because of overconfidence. I had been running for five years, and was cocky and arrogant. I didn't allow myself to understand what it meant to run 42 km. It was a great learning experience."

In 2015, he competed in the Ironman Triathlon, "widely considered the world's toughest one-day sporting event." Participants have to complete a 3.86-kilometre swim, a 180.25-kilometre bicycle ride and a full marathon (42.2 kilometres), successively, and in that order, in under 17 hours. Two years on, he completed Ultraman, a three-day-long mega triathlon, which he says was scarier than Ironman. "At 38, I had thought finishing a half-marathon would be difficult. At 52, I knew becoming an Ultraman was easy," he writes in the book.

Memoirs are meant to be tell-all. But Soman, despite showing no restrain when exposing his vulnerabilities, including his love-hate relationship with his father whose volatile temperament worried him, refused to discuss or dwell on the relationships with his girlfriends, except for Sapre, which was public knowledge, his first wife Mylène Jampanoi and Konwar. "I skipped it deliberately. People didn't know about a lot of my girlfriends, and I didn't want to suddenly bring it out, and create some issues for them. It happened so many years ago, and they have their own lives. I didn't want to call all of them up, and ask, 'Hey, should I tell them our story?'. I also felt it wasn't important to write about them."

Having said that, he loved the attention he has received from women. A soothsayer, after reading his palm, had told his mother that he would be surrounded by ladies. "It's the truth. It's not that I don't get along with men, but I prefer the company of women. I like being with them. I have learnt a lot from the women I have been with, whether my mother, sisters, girlfriends, business partners or wives." And then corrects himself: "Wife."


With Anusha Dandekar; 2003

Konwar, who he married in April 2018, is at the office when we meet him. She doesn't interrupt the interview, but agrees for a quick picture, when asked. The two met at a nightclub, and for Soman it was almost, love at first look. "I thought this girl was amazing." But he didn't want to appear like a "predatory Casanova", a description he says is wrongly attributed to him, so he took it slow. They went out on a date two weeks later. He jokes about how "traumatic" the whole wedding talk was. "When we met for the first time, we had this chat about marriage and kids, and we both agreed that it was not for us. And I was like, 'yay!'. But a couple of years later, her sister got married, and she said, 'oh! It would be so nice to get married.' And I said, 'excuse me!' It kept cropping up again. Eventually, I got around to it," he says. "But it's been wonderful. I am really happy that we did it. We do everything together, and I think, it has worked well for us," Soman ends, as we get into the elevator, for another round of pictures in the outdoors. The marathoner poses like he is on a ramp, and taking a look at the pictures in the DSLR, he admires his own face: "How good I look?"

And we break our wow. "Of course!"

QUICK 5

- His first girlfriend was called Anne. They were both five and in the same class at a London kindergarten.
- His favourite escapist fantasy as a child was Tarzan, Lord Of The Apes.
- He has read at least 200 Mills & Boon romances as a teenager.
- He hasn't used shaving foam, cologne, sunblock or soap, in over 10 years.
- When the concept of Alisha Chinai's Made In India indipop video was first explained to him, he thought it "unbelievably tacky".

Milind Soman On Tweets About Milind Soman

@dhaniyawaad: Milind Soman is so hot that I can cook biryani on him
I really hope @dhaniyawaad is a girl. Not that I want her to cook biryani on me.

@sup_3:Don't blame climate change! Milind Soman is directly responsible for global warming!
I am not. It's really bad, and I can't be responsible for what's bad.

@Shakti_Shetty: Milind Soman can actually justify sending "Running late" emails to his colleagues
Laughs.

@iamdatemike: At one point I also wanted to date Milind Soman, but then I saw the amount of exercise it involved
Thank god.

@LOLrakshak: I have a lot of questions about the Milind Soman-Ankita wedding. Like who reached the mandap first, Milind or the horse?
Funny. Funny. Funny. There was no horse.


Watching a selfie seeker pay the customary price, do push-ups; 2018


Running the Mumbai Marathon; 2007


Soman and Ankita Konwar

Purnima Shah (BOMBAY TIMES; July 31, 2018)

Last weekend, actor and fitness promoter Milind Soman was in Chennai for The Saree Run With Milind, a Pinkathon event, where women in their best saris came to run along with him. On both the days that he was here, he also ran with Divya, a partially visually impaired girl who will be running from Puducherry to Chennai next month. Milind took some time off from his packed running schedule to talk about the things that are close to his heart. Excerpts...

‘Running has become a movement’
When I started Pinkathon, I never thought I would see so many people running. There were many running events, but only a few women were participating in them. I strongly felt the need for a space for women runners since there wasn’t any platform like that. When the participation started increasing, we decided to take it to other cities, and in every city we went, the enthusiasm was really inspiring.

‘It was surprising to know that no one was ready to invest in a run for women’
There aren’t many women-only events. Sponsors used to tell me that women are just not the market for them; the reason being women are not decisions takers in their homes. It was surprising to learn those aspects as how products are sold in India and what brands believed of themselves.

‘Walked more than 300 km; had a barefoot wedding in the woods’
Ankita and I always wanted a barefoot wedding in the woods, so we went on a long trip to Portugal and Spain, where we walked together more than 300 km. It was great fun to just walk, something I have never done before. Some days, we walked the entire day. We went through more than a hundred towns and villages, through fields, forests and the countryside. I had never done that before. It was too special for all of us, even for Ankita. For me, walking is more difficult than running because it’s a different set of muscles and movement. By the fourth day, my whole body was aching. We were walking between 15 and 30 km every day. My mother was better because she walks daily, and does a lot of trekking, too, but for me and Ankita, it was a little uncomfortable, but we got used to it.”

There’s buzz that you and Ankita are likely to enter Bigg Boss 12?
Well, nobody has approached me yet for Bigg Boss and I have no idea when this happened. I don’t know why they are even coming up with names that are not confirmed. It’s always like that, they randomly choose names and put it up.

‘Smoking is acceptable and available and that’s why we don’t see any wrong in it’
I quit smoking in 2003. Smoking is an addiction, and we also know that it can kill you. And going by my personal experience, I can say that a smoker lives only 40 per cent of his or her life. So, why would you want to do that? I don’t think it’s worth it; smoking takes away too much from your life and I have felt that personally. It was those days when I just started acting in television where people of my age group used to smoke a lot. Cigarettes were cheap, so, people used to offer it to everybody. Those 10 years, I never bought a single cigarette, but used to smoke more than 30 cigarettes a day. From just one drag to addiction, I didn’t realise when it started to take the whole of me. I was so arrogant about my fitness and discipline that I didn’t see how I was harming myself. Cigarettes are the worst form of addiction. The problem is, it is acceptable in the society — if someone smokes, no one calls him or her an idiot, and also, it is easily available. The only tip would be, keep saying no, and eventually it works.

Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; April 23, 2018)

After their mehendi ceremony on Saturday, model-actor Milind Soman and girlfriend Ankita Konwar tied the knot in a traditional ceremony, yesterday. The wedding, which took place in Alibaug, was attended by close friends and family.

Staying true to their roots — Milind is a Maharashtrian, while Ankita is Assamese — the couple’s wedding was a blend of both cultures. They mixed and matched their Assamese outfits with Maharashtrian accessories and also performed certain Assamese rituals at the wedding ceremony.

Milind’s mother Usha Soman was by her son’s side throughout, soaking in the memorable moments. While most guests headed home last evening, the couple is slated to leave for Spain soon, for their honeymoon.

Known for giving fitness goals to health enthusiasts, Milind and Ankita’s bond proved that when it comes to love and marriage, age is definitely not a barrier. A lot was written about their 25-year age gap — he is 52 and she, 27 — but their wedlock goes on to show that all that matters is compatibility.

A haldi ceremony was held prior to the wedding, with classic Marathi songs playing in the background.

Here’s wishing the couple a happy married life.






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The groom preps for the wedding with 501 push-ups, the bride makes a style statement with flowers and a dazzling smile
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 23, 2018)

Even two days before Milind Soman tied the knot with Ankita Konwar, his girlfriend of nearly three years and a former air-hostess, it was business as usual for the 52-year-old model, athlete and India’s Ironman, as he kept up with his daily routine of 501 pushups. A week before that, the couple had run across Delhi and Kolkata as part of their fitness regime.

The two-day wedding ceremony took place on April 21-22 at an Alibaug farmhouse and guests pointed out that it was only apt that the health-freak and environmentalist took the pheras on Earth Day.

The wedding was a small, intimate Maharashtrian-style ceremony, preceded by some Assamese customs conducted by Niranjana and Nagen Konwar, parents of the 26-year-old bride. Ankita’s sister Jharna Konwar Baruah was also present. The couple was colour-coordinated in beige and gold for the two-hour ritual while Milind’s mother, Usha, draped herself in the traditional nauvari saree. The ornaments were predominantly floral paired with minimalistic accessories. Guests, including the bride and groom’s families, close friends and a few of Milind’s colleagues, braved the April heat as the couple took their vows in a mandap erected outdoors and decorated with Warli paintings, roses and marigold.

Around 30 guests arrived in Alibaug on Saturday for the sangeet and mehendi. It was a sun-downer with the couple dancing through the night to Bollywood chartbusters, including “Main Khiladi Tu Anari”, “Dilliwali Girlfriend” and “Ishq Sufiyana”. There was a Punjabi band which later doubled up as a karaoke crew with guests crooning under the moonlight. While Ankita switched from one brightly coloured lehenga to another for the many ceremonies preceding the pheras, Milind was breezy in a t-shirt and shorts during the pre-wedding rituals. After the wedding, all the guests changed into white shorts and T-shirts with two Warli stick figures representing the newlyweds emblazoned on them, perhaps in celebration of the matrimonial marathon the couple has pledged to run.

While rumours of an impending wedding had been rife for two months, neither Milind nor Ankita had confirmed the news. The cat was out of the bag by their close friends, model-actress Dipannita Sharma, filmmaker Subodh Maskara, Milind’s fellow runners Abhi Asha Mishra, and Radhika Gupta, as they shared pictures of the newlyweds on the social media, including one in which the groom swept his bride off her feet and into his arms.

Milind and Ankita had first raised eyebrows because of a 26-year age gap when they confirmed their relationship on the social media with loved-up pictures in November, 2015. But the couple shrugged it off. The couple had first got together when Ankita completed her first 10K marathon under Milind’s guidance earlier in the month. They would subsequently go on to particpate in several marathons, sometimes with Milind’s mom for company. The 78-year-old matriarch, who lives with the model-actor in his Dadar home, adores her daughter-in-law and after the wedding, has welcomed Ankita into the fold with open arms.

The mehndi ceremony was held yesterday
Renuka Vyavahare and Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; April 22, 2018)

Milind Soman is set to break many hearts today, as he ties the knot with girlfriend Ankita Konwar in a private ceremony in Alibaug. Sources close to the modelactor confirmed that the wedding ceremony will take place today, while the haldi and mehndi functions were held yesterday. The couple was dressed in traditional Assamese attire for their mehndi function.

Milind wanted to keep things low-key and invited only a select group of friends and family. Apart from close family members, those in attendance include Milind’s colleagues and friends who support his fitness and social causes. Most of the guests gathered in Alibaug on Saturday.

Model-actress Dipannita Sharma, who is among the guests at the wedding, told BT on Saturday, “The mehndi was a lot of fun, with Assamese, Hindi and Marathi songs being played in the background. Everybody, including the couple, had a great time dancing.”

Dipannita added, “Even the decor was a mix of Assamese and Marathi cultures. The wedding will also be a blend of both cultures, as Ankita is from Assam and Milind is a Maharashtrian. They want to keep it simple. We can’t wait to see them married.”

There’s also speculation that the reception might be held in a foreign location, where the newly-weds will be hosted by a close friend’s family. However, there have been no confirmations of it. Twenty seven-year-old Ankita is a former cabin crew executive. She’s now a fitness advocate like Soman.

Letty Mariam Abraham (MID-DAY; December 28, 2017)

Not many would associate fitness enthusiast Milind Soman with a vice that takes a toll on health. Fifteen years after the avid smoker kicked the butt to adopt a healthier lifestyle, he took six individuals, still struggling with the addiction, on a journey to remember. The actor-turned-philanthropist, 52, talks to mid-day about the web show, I Can, You Can, which follows six smokers as they trek to the Everest base camp. Soman leads this pack of individuals, who, despite their addiction, are relatively fit.

What convinced you to work on the show?
I jumped at the opportunity to shoot a trek-based show when BBC Worldwide offered it to me. They stated it would follow six people, who had, or continue to battle the addiction of smoking. Three of them want to give it up, while the others had quit a while ago. It chronicles their journey to the Everest base camp. I thought it would be interesting. And I was right; it was brilliant seeing them overcome challenges.

How was your journey of travelling with them?
First, we went to Kathmandu, and then took a flight to Lukla. We made our journey to the Everest base camp in about 14 days. We climbed over 18,000 feet. There was a crew that helped us through the obstacles and psychological challenges. When you cross 14,000 feet, the lack of oxygen can get disconcerting. It was great to experience that with the participants. The journey wasn’t tough; it was spiritual.

How did they deal with it?
They wanted to quit several times, but did not, because they had conviction. They were committed for various reasons, and that took them right to the end.

What message does this show attempt to spread?
The awareness [of the ill-effects of smoking] is there. Every cigarette will kill you; you don’t need anyone to emphasize that. The show hopes to inspire people. If this lot can transform, they should inspire others to follow suit.

How would you chronicle your battle with smoking?
I would smoke almost 30 cigarettes a day. But I stopped it 15 years ago. It was tough to rid myself of the addiction. It took me almost two years to give it up completely. Cigarettes are addictive, and easily available. That makes the effort [to quit smoking] harder. So, I could sympathize with the participants, understand the trauma of enduring withdrawal symptoms and mood swings.

What convinced you to kick the butt?
I always knew it was a stupid thing to do. As a sportsman, I was foolish to even start. I started smoking at 30 without any trigger. I was simply waiting for a shot, and decided to try it. Then, there was one cigarette after another. I just let it happen to me. I decided to give it up when I realized my addiction was becoming a concern.

There was a fair amount of discussion about your relationship with 18-year-old Ankita Konwar. How did you handle that?
It did not bother me, especially because she was not a minor [when we started dating]. It was amusing to see people go crazy over nothing. I was travelling [when the news came out] and it was fun to read what was being written about us. We have a simple story. We met at a nightclub in Chennai, and fell in love.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 26, 2017)

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 16, 2017)