Mandira Bedi bats for eves
While cricket may top her priority list, Mandira Bedi reveals that there is a lot more to her than just that "I am so excited", cooed Mandira Bedi, the lady who has added more than a dash of glamour to the world of cricket commentary. And she seemed visibly excited too, a day after India won the India-West Indies Test Series, 35 years after winning their last series in West Indies.
"I am so happy. I sat up and watched the match till the end even though I had a flight to catch early in the morning," she said. In Kolkata for a book launch Mandira looking chic in a white top and denims said that though she was an avid fan of the Indian cricket team, she was more loyal to another team —— the Indian women's cricket team. "They are doing well, and are performing better and winning more tournaments than the men. They have just returned from Sri Lanka after winning against Pakistan there," she says. Rattling off names like Neetu David, whom she calls 'our own Murlidharan', Anjum Chopra, one of the bats-woman in the team and Mitali Raj, who is the captain, she says, "the women's team is shaping up well having at last a sponsorship which they needed badly. In fact,I am sure they will do better now that the International Cricket Council (ICC) and International Women's Cricket Council (IWCC) have merged." Cricket, she says, gave her that instant recognition something, her years in television did not give her. "Producers were unwilling to offer me any other kind of role, but with the World Cup I finally got the break I wanted," she says. And while her first serial may have given her the first break, she says, she is unwilling to do any more serials. "I just want to be Mandira for a while, and play the role of Mandira which is why I did Deal Ya No Deal and Fame Gurukul." Of course now days she is seen quite a bit on stage and she says that it gives her an instant high. Her last play Anything But Love was a runaway hit not just in India but also in Singapore where they performed. "Both theatre and anchoring give the kind of high you rarely get anywhere else, after all both are live performances."And though her last film Shaadi ka Laddoo, directed by hubby Raj Kaushal failed to bring in the audiences she is hoping that her future films will. She will next be seen in White Feather Film production's Das Kahaniya and Red Eye Production's untitled venture and is also considering a Telegu film. "I like to try out different things," she explains. May be a Bengali film next.
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Advocate Anjali Awasthi
