Nina Manuel

Some Lesser Known Facts About Nina Manuel

• Nina Manuel is an Indian model, television host, and VJ. Her father belongs to Kerala, and her mother belongs to Goa. She spent her childhood in Arabian countries like Dubai, Bahrain, and Kuwait as her father was a manager in Air India, and they had to travel a lot. In an interview, she said that she did her schooling at five different schools. She completed her schooling in these countries, and to pursue her graduation, she returned to Mumbai.

• According to Nina Manuel, while she was pursuing her graduation at Mithibai College, she participated in various fashion shows held in her college. Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi was the batchmate of Nina Manuel at Mithibai College. In an interview, Nina revealed that she used to skip her classes, and she would usually hang out with her friends in a corner in the college.

• According to Nina, while growing up, she aspired to become a lawyer, and she took admission to GJ Advani Law College; however, left her law studies after two years to pursue modelling.

• In 1995, Nina`s mother saw an advertisement about the ‘Femina Look of the year’ contest in a newspaper. She insisted on her participation in the contest. She did not win the competition, but she caught the attention of Mehr Jesia.

• She started modelling with a show for Ensemble where many top fashion designers noticed her. Later, she went on to walk the ramps for many established brands including San Miguel, Lawman jeans, Bausch & Lomb, Levin’s, Coke, The Indian Express, and Kodak.

• Apart from modelling for various brands, Nina has also appeared in many music videos and walked the ramp for top designers like Suneet Varma, JJ Valaya, Raghvendra Rathod, and Ravi Bajaj.

  

• In an interview, she talked about her aspirations to become a model and the things that triggered her to pursue her career in modelling. She said,
  

  Earlier I didn’t think that way but after my college when I participated in the ‘Femina look of the year’ contest in 1995, I came across models like Madhu Sapre and Meher Jessia. It is then when I started knowing that I want to become one of them.”

• After becoming a successful model, she started her career in television by hosting the show ‘Nina at 9’ on Zee Music. Later, she also hosted the shows like ‘Midnite Manuel’ on Zee Music and ‘After Hours’ on Zee Cafe. She was also a VJ on Channel V and hosted the show ‘Late Night V.’

• In an interview, when she was asked about her experience as a VJ, she said that she enjoyed hosting the live shows. She said that her favourite show was ‘After Hours,’ where she got a chance to meet many celebrities.

• Nina is married to a New York City-based businessman Luv Shah. They performed Hindu as well as Christian wedding ceremonies. Their Hindu wedding took place at JW Marriott Hotel in Juhu, and the Christian wedding took place at St Peter’s Church, Bandra. Nina took a Gujarati look for the pheras. She wore a white and maroon saree with a maroon choli designed by James Ferreir and some gold jewellery. The gown for her Christian wedding was designed by Gavin Maguel,  and the post-wedding gown was designed by James Ferreira.

  

• Her husband, Luv, wore a tuxedo from Narendra Kumar for the Church wedding and a sherwani by Aki Narula for the Hindu wedding.

• After the marriage, she started living in New York City. She gave birth to a boy in 2015 and named him Zane Manuel Shah.

• Her friends from the industry are Nethra Raghuraman and Dipanita Sharma.

• In an interview, she talked about how she spends her leisure time. She said,
  

  When I am not working I keep lying on my bed. I also like watching movies, listening to music and talking to friends on the phone, or hanging out with them while I am not working. Basically, I just keep lazing around.”

• She thinks that Rahul Gandhi is the hottest man. She said in an interview that he is cute, has a great personality, and he is good looking.

• According to Nina, she always keeps a cleanser, face wash, face pack, and moisturizer in her bag. Her go-to makeup look is the smokey eye with nude lips.

  

• In an interview, while talking about the make-up essentials, she said

SmashBox Full Exposure Mascara, Shu Uemura eye shadow in Soft Gold and M.A.C eye shadow in Handwritten.  YSL Touché Eclat is my go to concealer. I use a Bobbi Brown foundation mixed with M.A.C eye concealer to get the right color for my skin”.

• Her workout routine includes functional training, core training and, cardio. She runs on the treadmill for 30-40 minutes every day. She walks for 1 minute on an incline and runs for 4 minutes.

• She eats Muesli with yoghurt for breakfast and salad with either steamed fish and, grilled chicken for lunch and dinner to keep herself in shape.

• Her day starts with a glass of water. In an interview, she said,
  

  I drink lots of water throughout the day. In the morning, I have about a litre of water. Then I have another litre through the day. I think water is the best thing for our bodies”.

• Nina has appeared on the cover of various publications including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Femina, L’Officiel, Maxim and FHM etc.

• Nina has hosted many popular awards shows like ‘The Light of India Awards’ in New York and some special events in Mumbai like the red carpet for ‘GQ Men of the Year Awards 2011’ and the launch party of ‘Range Rover Evoque.’
  

  

  

• Her approach towards a healthy life is exercise and no sweets. She always tries to have a no-fat diet that includes boiled veggies, chicken, and fish.

• According to Nina, she would do any kind of business that is related to art, fashion, or real estate. In an interview, while talking about this, she said,
  

  If my television contract doesn’t get renewed I won’t be upset because the world offers so many opportunities.”

• In an interview, she was asked about her opinion about the growing number of fashion weeks in India. She said that more fashion weeks means more money for the models, designers, makeup team, etc. She also added that fashion in India has grown over the years. India is rich in textiles, and the designers are making the right use of the resources. She further said that the organisations such as FDCI should support not only the established designers but also the budding talents.

• She also revealed in an interview that she loved shopping in her favourite travel destination, i.e., Singapore. In an interview, when she was asked about the first thing she bought in Singapore, she said,
  

  During one of my first few visits to Singapore, I picked up this sporty green and black off-shoulder dress. It has a nice print on it. It’s a very casual dress that has to be worn with sneakers; it won’t go well with sandals or something.”

• She has also endorsed ‘Antiquity Whiskey’ as its brand ambassador.

  

• In 2014, Nina owned a cat for two weeks about which she posted on her Twitter handle.