From studying law in a family of lawyers to pioneering India’s modern fitness revolution, Nawaz Modi Singhania has never walked the conventional path. Instead, she carved her own… one filled with creativity, courage, and a relentless pursuit of innovation. In 1992, when fitness offerings in India were scarce, Nawaz launched Body Art, introducing new concepts and building one of the country’s most respected fitness brands.

Her vision went far beyond physical training; it embraced holistic well-being — mental, emotional, and spiritual fitness — long before wellness became a global buzzword.

A trailblazer, Nawaz has worn many hats with effortless grace — fitness entrepreneur, mentor on hit television shows like Indian Idol Jr. and Super Dancer, author of Pause, Rewind, and a creative force whose artistry extends into painting, writing, and public speaking. Backed by her Parsi upbringing, her resilience, reinvention, and clarity of thought have inspired countless women to dream bigger, break boundaries, and live fully.

Today, Nawaz continues to lead from the front, blending tradition with innovation while shaping conversations around wellness, anti-aging, and holistic living. She embodies the perfect confluence of discipline and creativity, intellect and empathy, legacy and reinvention.

In an exclusive interview, Nawaz Modi Singhania talks to Sumita Chakraborty, Founder & Editor-in-Chief, TheGlitz, about her journey, inspirations, founding Body Art and her vision for the future of fitness and wellness in India.

Over To Nawaz Modi Singhania, Founder, Body Art

You began your career studying law but eventually found your calling in fitness. What sparked that shift and how did your early environment shape the foundation of Body Art?

I went into law never actually wanting to practice law, but because I come from a family of lawyers – my father, my brothers – they’re all lawyers, so I wanted to have that education. I didn’t want to disappoint my father who wanted me to study law and then practice it although my calling was never in law. It was an over-infiltrated space and male dominated.

I wanted to always do something creative, something which hadn’t been done in India before. I wanted to pioneer different things. I wanted to work for myself, on my own time, my own space etc. and none of that was law but it was coming, it was sharply coming together in terms of fitness.

I went abroad straight after my college and took up courses there in fitness, trained there, worked there and then came back in a day and age, where none of that was possible or available to others so I gained a lot of market advantage.

When I started Body Art back then in the very early 1990s, there was just Talwalkar’s within a 10-mile radius. There was nothing else… no specific offerings in fitness. There was only that gym. And I came in with a lot of pioneering, a lot of new things which gave me the joy, the satisfaction, the creative outlet.

There was so many things which I was hankering for… I was also a huge feminist, I still am. And I wanted to see women thrive in a variety of ways. For many years, I hired only women. It was a full women’s team… even in terms of gym trainers. I had the space; I had the guts and the gumption!

Starting Body Art in 1992 must have come with its fair share of resistance especially as a woman entrepreneur introducing new fitness concepts. What were the biggest hurdles you faced in those early years and how did you push through them?

My experience was very different actually. No, I didn’t face any hurdles as a woman entrepreneur. In fact, I found it advantageous, possibly because I had everything I needed organically by myself. I wasn’t seeking anything from a patriarchal system or otherwise. The rules were mine and the game was mine. I played it as I wanted. And it worked out really, really well.

There was no competition around. Like I said, there was just this one gym. The whole city and otherwise were buzzing with what I was doing, and it was super-duper successful.

I also started writing for many publications… virtually pretty much all of them for several years, some for even decades… and I have my Parsi upbringing to thank for that. I have my father to thank for giving me the roots, the wings, the backbone, the everything that I wish every woman in this country had or has… I took it for granted back then, not knowing any differently.

But now I do, and I’m immensely grateful for all that is and was.

Over the decades, Body Art has grown into a widely respected fitness brand. Was there any particular moment or milestone that felt like a turning point for you personally or professionally?

Sumita, I had the advantage of being the first mover, right? In a country where we aped the West and everything came 10 years later. Fitness was already a thing in the West. And therefore, it was no rocket science as to how it would be taken here early in the day and the fact that I had that advantage and that reach from the US to here, in that time back in the day, in the early ’90s.

So no, I did not have a hard time. I got success very early. Body Art became huge. I was in the right place, at the right time.

You’ve been a part of popular TV shows like Indian Idol jr. and the Super Dancer mentoring young performers… What was that experience like? And how did it challenge or expand your understanding of fitness?

That’s a lovely question. Thank you for asking it. You know, when you’re dealing with, let’s say, singers… they need a different kind of fitness. Of course, they need the stamina and they need to look a certain way.

They want to look their best, they want to lose weight, they want to lose the tummy roll, they want to gain confidence… They are out there for the whole world to see. They come from small towns or small places with their parents doing their very best to put it all together for them. Often… selling their cars, their bikes, their homes, their businesses… to make this possible for their child. Often enough, the whole family will accompany their child pegging all their hopes and dreams onto this one poor child’s shoulders. So the burden or the stress for these kids are huge and heavy…

…And they also need to sing whether it’s holding lung power, diaphragm expansion, posture correction, stress management… so the stress is huge, week on week.  

Besides this, there is the stress of coping… kids are getting eliminated every week – the kind of Herculean effort that their parents have made to make this possible for them, makes failure astronomical. So the stress levels are in the stratosphere. How do you deal with that? How do you manage that? How do you still let your best performance come out?

Then it comes to sleep. You’re in a different environment, possibly not used to an air conditioner, possibly not used to the heat and humidity of Bombay, the food is different, getting along with everyone, the politics, all sorts of things… So how do you help them deal with all that in terms of fitness is a different kind of skill that you’ve got to bring out.

What is nutritionally right, wrong, screen time… many, many things have an effect. So, it was a wonderful new challenge for someone like me to be able to drill it down to precisely what these kids would then need… conversely the same for dancers whether they need that kind of flexibility, they need that kind of fitness, they need that kind of stamina, that ability… resistance to injuries…  

Sometimes, there are cases of repeated injuries because you’re overusing certain body parts. How do you prevent that? What do you eat to have that kind of energy, how important is sleep, water intake… all sorts of things and zoning down to working with them is delightful. It was wonderful for me as I felt I was in my element, and even beyond my element when I do this sort of work.

Between running a business, writing, painting and public speaking, how do you stay centered and manage your energy across such diverse, creative and professional pursuits?

Well, I do a lot more than that even…Sumita. I was on the board of 10 companies till recently for well over a decade and then some. …Managing the household, children, and aging parents and all sorts of things… I think we have the EQ and the IQ as women… and the ability to juggle well as women.

They say under the lamp, you can’t see the light… you’re only in the shadow so you can’t see it… when you’re doing it yourself. But it all happens! You just make it happen… is the best way I can put it across. You always make the time for what you want to make the time for… and on the flipside, you’ll never have the time for something you don’t want to make the time for. It’s really that simple.

With so much public exposure, how have you handled moments of doubt, scrutiny or failure? And what have they taught you about resilience and reinvention?

So firstly, I don’t believe there’s anything like a “mistake”. If you don’t make enough mistakes, it means you’re not taking enough risks. You’re playing in the safe zone… and you’ll never get anywhere extraordinary.

What did they say about Thomas Edison when he invented the light bulb? There were 10,000 different ways of inventing the light bulb. None of them worked. Except one… that worked! So, you know, 9,999 ways of inventing a light bulb were not failures because if he didn’t go through that, he wouldn’t have come across that one way of inventing it. …And that’s something that the whole world enjoys till date.

The public exposure is a part of my life and my world. All roses come with thorns. And they’re not necessarily a bad thing. They’re protective! In fact, in my case, I’m not a person who acts knee-jerk. I’m very thoughtful, contemplated and sorted. I will consider all aspects… EQ, IQ. I’m an overthinker. I will consider all things before I act. So, the doubt comes way before anything that is out there for anyone else to see.

I don’t see anything as a failure… in the fashion that I’ve explained. Scrutiny fell in my favour for many reasons… I won’t get into right now, but it doesn’t take rocket science to figure… and my resilience, my reinvention, my strength, my courage, my voice comes from my Parsi upbringing. To me, it was all very normal and natural. I didn’t know any other way! So, when people look at me and say, “Oh my God, you are so brave, you are so strong, you are so resilient, you are so courageous. I look at them and say, “To me that’s normal. I don’t know any other way to be.” …And that is you know the fact of the matter.

Your book ‘Pause Rewind’ explores natural anti-aging techniques. What inspired you to write it? And what does anti-aging mean to you beyond just the physical aspect?

To me, fitness is not just physical fitness. It’s also health. …And it’s not just physical health. It’s all the fitness and health that go beyond the physical. It goes into mental, emotional, psychological, spiritual and even other forms of fitness and health, financial and otherwise too. It’s very, very holistic. And a part of that is anti-aging because we all want to live long, but nobody wants to age, right?

Now, there are very many anti-aging means or techniques, which to me, because of my journey in health and fitness, were natural. But to others, they weren’t and people would keep asking: “How do you look so young?” “How is your skin so amazing?” “How does your skin look like a thousand-watt light bulb?”

To me, things that I had done and learned… I would do on a constant basis. They weren’t natural and normal to everyone… and I just felt at a point that for the amount of times that I reveal or repeat those gems, secrets, whatever you might call them, it had to be out there for the world to access in an easy, relatable, easy to do, no nonsense and inexpensive way. …And that’s how the concept of the book really came about.

And surprisingly, once I’d written it, Penguin approached me to write on the very same topic which was just divine intervention. I mean… firstly nobody would want a better publisher than Penguin… they are right on top. …And they came to me when the book was already written saying we want you to write on this subject… So how much more of a miracle could that have been?

What’s next for you in Body Art and what advice would you give to someone trying to build a lasting legacy in wellness industry today?

I’m superstitious about talking about things before they’ve actually happen. So, while I’ve got plans, I let them unfold and speak for themselves rather than me speak for them. That’s number one. What advice would I give to someone trying to build a lasting legacy in the wellness industry today? I would say now it would have to be online or tech driven, integrated with health and fitness.

Wellness has to be integrated with health and fitness and looked at from a completely different lens… from what one would have done in the 1990s when I started. It has to be holistic fitness… spotlighting health – mental, physical, emotional, psychological, financial and all other ways.

It’s an entirely different world now from when I started and you’ve got to look at it that way.  Today, it’s a humongous industry and there’s a lot to be able to innovate and create within it… So, I’d say, it’s a fabulous place to be in right now.