Pooja Bedi lastest interview

Casually dressed in sequenced sparkling jeans, and a pastel pink tank-top, her luscious locks cascading to her waist, Pooja Bedi, TV's numero uno television anchor takes a seat. Today, though, she's in the hot-seat. We catch up with the star at her tastefully yet understated seaside residence in the suburbs of Mumbai.

In a short span of a decade, Pooja has catapulted into one of India's top anchors on air today. To refresh your memory, she was the Kamasutra model, a film actress she starred in Kavykansh (debut film 1991), Mahesh Bhatt's Phir Teri Kahani Yaad Aayee (1993), and the popular Jo Jeeta Who Sikander (remember the famous Pehle Nasha song opposite Aamir Khan?) where she played an effervescent and a bubbly young woman.

Real life vs reel life
Her off screen life hasn't been exempt from some of the colour, drama and heartbreak one finds on the big screen. She has dealt with marriage, motherhood, divorce, deaths (her mother), remarriage (her father's). Somewhere in the confusion of the mundane, at the point that is beyond our control, where the hands of fate lift one from the doldrums, Pooja found the strength and wherewithal to re-emerge in the limelight stronger, wiser and matured.

The transformation from playing fictional characters to hosting a news-based television show may seem natural and effortless at first glance, but at a deeper perusal, Pooja, known for being opinionated, liberated, and driven represents a symbol of individualism we all strive to reach. Only in this scenario it is meshed with the genteel and proper upbringing meted by her father, international film actor Kabir Bedi, contrasted with the diametrically opposite wild, creativity, spill-over flower child influences of mother famous Odissi dancer Protima Bedi (who died in a tragic avalanche in 1998).

Choices and marriage
"Choices are the most important ingredient to inner happiness," says Pooja. "And at times they are not always easy." Her eight year marriage to, Farhan, ended amicably and both admit to being great friends and parents to their two children. "I had the typical fairytale beginning and fairytale ending in my marriage. And I went into it with my eyes open. I knew my husband for twelve years and we were engaged for three. The best part of our lives together is that he accepted me and still does accept me for me."

The factors leading to the inevitable breakdown of their relationship also are not from the realm of the usual. Pooja candidly states, "I wanted a Mills and Boon happily ever after type life. Except they don't tell you what you're supposed to do after the happily ever after. I felt stagnated, not so much in my career, but through my own spirit. At this time I felt an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired, "she admits..

One of her key mottos has always been to follow her inner instincts. "I think my upbringing has played a pivotal role in shaping me as a person without doubt. From my parents, I have derived a spirit of adventure which can not be frightened into conformity."

Paradoxes
"Conformity" and Pooja are paradoxes. She's abrasively sensitive, incisively kind, beautifully smart, and individually mainstream.

She continues, "I am not scared that I wasn't scared to take the chance and try again," she states matter-of-factly. "Many women continue to simmer in resentment under the fear of what will happen if... I just did it," she pauses for a moment.

"I have been fortunate that both my ex-husband and I could end something with love that was started with love. And, I believe, I received that unconditional love you read about from my parents."

Parents: Protima and Kabir Bedi
"I believe in self-worth. This I have learned from my mother. She was the true rebel in every sense of the word. She just didn't live life, when she was alive, on her terms; she created each and every minute. Why minute she made each and every second count. My mother in a word can be described as inspiring, extremely passionate, and uninhibited..." She stops before continuing. "My only regret was that I didn't stop her from taking the pilgrimage."

What does she miss the most about her mother?
"Her physical presence, and her physical affection. She was so loving... always hugging you. She was the most self-less person I've met. If she could present you with anything she would." Her most poignant quality? "I think it was her constant belief to dream, to dream big, and to let other realize their dreams. She started her dance school in the South and persevered until it became recognized as a national symbol of dance in India."

Her father Kabir Bedi's refined nature complemented his first wife Protima vivaciousness, and Pooja believes," Any man can not match-up to my father. He is charming, good, kind, well-travelled, very loving, a true gentleman. Never once has he raised his voice or hand on us children. He has the P's and Q's to hold his own no matter what."

"They both brought into their lives what they felt was important. Some may consider them to be different. But to others what was different, to me, was a reality. I was born into light-headed and big-headed individuals that were very nurturing and caring," she observes.

She feels, "they both gave me the wings to find independence, a sense of adventure, and ability to share and care..."

Value system and advice to other women
"I try to live within the law, and everything else is defined by me... as Pooja. She is living proof of Confucius' saying: the kite that flies against the wind soars. "My parents made us comfortable that we could sit on a floor in a villager's house and eat dinner or share dinner with the President," she laughs.

She sums it up: "My children, my ex, and my Father are extremely proud of me. I mean post marriage, post career, everything. For women in India you have to remember there are limited career options.There is nothing holding anyone back but their own fear."