Among a sea of bulging biceps and bare chested 21-year-olds, he is the only one with a long flowing white beard, grey hair—maybe that’s why his Insta handle goes by the moniker-greyfluencer. Somehow Sudhir Padiyar isn’t intimidated by all the muscle flex he sees around.

Afterall, he began modelling at the age of 51, by sheer serendipity! It was during covid, he grew his hair and beard long, was spotted by someone in fashion, outside a gym (his favourite place) and asked, “Have you tried modelling?”.

He was gobsmacked, as in school, he was often bullied for his lean, unconventional looks, which made him camera phobic. It was only four years back that he downloaded Instagram, got selected to do a show down South, which paid homage to body positive models. “I didn’t have a single photo, whenever I would see a camera I would escape. When I got selected, I never could imagine myself as a model on the runway, but I felt a sense of pride,” says Sudhir.

From Mangalore, a coastal town known for the long-legged Shettys (Shilpa to Sunil), his father was an engineer (KEC international) and mom a banker (Syndicate Bank). He admits academics was not his calling, after his graduation in physics from Mumbai University, he was baffled what career path he should choose.

“It was the time of the Harshad Mehta boom, in the 90s, the stock markets were on a high. I decided to do an MBA from the Institute of Technology and Management (ITM). Later, I joined the corporate world,” says the Mumbai-based model. Soon he discovered there are two ways to live life—do what you like or like what you do. He decided to go with the latter, even though he was great at copywriting, and could have joined a top advertising agency, he chose finance as a subject.

“I’m a social person, I enjoyed my interactions with clients advising them on stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Between 1993 and 2013, I did well in a stock broking firm,” he says. Soon got fed up, and quit, “but middle-class guys don’t have the luxury of taking on dad’s business, you have to work to survive,” he soon realised. His next step was financial PR, mergers, and acquisitions, but never did he think of modelling.

At 55, (he admits playing squash, table tennis and hectic cricket has injured his knees, but he enjoys the catwalk) he has been a favourite with designer Gaurav Khanijo who got him to close the show, almost a showstopper. He has been chosen by top designers —J J Valaya to younger ones like Ujjawal Dubey of Antar Agni. “At 55 I feel fitter than most younger models. But yes, as I’m not a regular on the catwalk, I do need assistance with choreography language as it’s new for me,” he adds with a smile.

Being one of the few different faces, from what he calls away from the “mannequin models”, as he doesn’t have their physique, which is unrealistic if you look at the Indian male”. “When a regular guy sees me he connects, I’m someone like him-not a model body. Whatever models wear they look good, even if they don’t wear a shirt they look great. I don’t have that kind of courage,” says Sudhir. He gets young girls who come to him and say, “please tell my dad to get fit too, if you can do it, so can they. Pl do a video call”.

The runway is becoming inclusive, he says, especially FDCI which has been a frontrunner, at the India Men’s Weekend in Diggi Palace, Jaipur. “I’m not doing this for money, but to inspire people that at any age, you can achieve what you never even dreamed you could do,” he concludes. – Asmita is the Lifestyle Editor of NRI Focus. She is an award winning journalist who has been writing on fashion for the last 32 years