Magazine India Models: Debonair

Hailing from the smaller cities—Lucknow, Nagpur, Coimbatore—this model brings a physicality that gym-built Bombay boys can’t fake. Broad jaw, thick neck, hands that look like they’ve worked. He’s the face of ‘real power’ athleisure and homegrown whisky.

Keep your eyes on Rohan Nazareth (Mumbai via Bengaluru). He just landed the exclusive Indian campaign for a French leather house. He’s 24. He has a broken nose and a perfect smile. And he never, ever looks at the camera first. Photographs for this feature were styled by Arjun S. Grooming by The Bombay Barber Co. Location: The Royal Bombay Yacht Club. Debonair Magazine India Models

Debonair – For men who understand that style is a weapon. Load it. Keep your eyes on Rohan Nazareth (Mumbai via Bengaluru)

Take (28, Lakme Fashion Week regular, face of a major luxury watch brand). He isn't classically “pretty.” His nose has a bump from a college rugby accident. His walk is a little lazy, a little dangerous. “I was rejected seven times because my ‘look wasn’t clean,’” he tells us over black coffee at a Bandra studio. “Then a European designer saw my test shots and said, ‘Finally, a man who looks like he’s lived.’” He has a broken nose and a perfect smile

NRIs returning home, or models with mixed heritage. They carry a passport full of stamps and a walk that merges New York urgency with Delhi swagger. They dominate e-commerce and international catalogues.

He can wear a Rs. 2,000 kurta like a maharaja or a Rs. 2 lakh suit like a thief running from a heist. That tension—between the everyman and the fantasy—is where the magic lives.

That’s the new currency: Authenticity . We’ve broken down the four dominant male model personas ruling the Indian subcontinent right now.