Check out: Mandira Bedi gets sporty with The Man

Aptly titled as ‘Mistress Of Reinvention’, this is one not-to-be-missed issue! Having started her romance with the camera with the TV serial ‘Shanti’, Mandira, in no time, became a household darling of millions. Looking back in time, Mandira, in this issue, says, “I was doing an internship with adman Prahlad Kakkar, Read More">when he was workingRead More

Aptly titled as 'Mistress Of Reinvention', this is one not-to-be-missed issue! Having started her romance with the camera with the TV serial 'Shanti', Mandira, in no time, became a household darling of millions. Looking back in time, Mandira, in this issue, says, "I was doing an internship with adman Prahlad Kakkar, when he was working on a commercial for Haywards. Adi Pocha, the scriptwriter of 'Shanti' saw me on the floor and thought he had found his 'Shanti'. After several screen tests, it finally fell into place for Adi when he saw me in a salwar kameez with an arrow bindi. That was the start of the rage for bindis with odd shapes. I would go to Lajpat Nagar in Delhi and ask for 'shanti bindis', and they would give them to me without recognizing me, explaining that some actress on TV wore such bindis!"

Amongst all this, romance bloomed in the form of Raj Kaushal, whom she married with much fanfare. Revealing the ‘secret’ of her longstanding marriage, Mandira says, “We work because we are such total opposites. I’m volatile and hyper while he’s cool headed. Also, Read More">our Sundays are sacrosanct. It is rare for us to be awayRead More

Amongst all this, romance bloomed in the form of Raj Kaushal, whom she married with much fanfare. Revealing the 'secret' of her longstanding marriage, Mandira says, "We work because we are such total opposites. I'm volatile and hyper while he's cool headed. Also, our Sundays are sacrosanct. It is rare for us to be away from each other on a Sunday. You know, when you have less time together, you make sure it's good time together. It's precious to both of us. The only thing that bugs me about him is his lackadaisical attitude to health and fitness. I'm particular about working out and what I eat. He doesn't care at all. His heart attack sometime ago gave us both a scare. Now, thankfully, walking has become an [enforced!] part of his routine."

Lastly, talking about cricketers, Mandira confesses, "I find M.S. Dhoni really sexy. Shane Warne, too, despite his 'rangeen' personality, Kumar Sangakkara and Adam Gilchrist and even Ranbir Kapoor is hot as well!"

Way to go, Mandira Bedi!

TV happened to her yet again in the form of reality shows like ‘Deal Ya No Deal’, ‘Fame Gurukul’, ‘Jo Jeeta Wahi Superstar ‘and ‘Fear Factor’. Talking about ‘Fear Factor’, the dare devil Mandira says, “I broke my foot and have a metal rod with seven screws holding the bones in place, Read More">but I wouldRead More

TV happened to her yet again in the form of reality shows like 'Deal Ya No Deal', 'Fame Gurukul', 'Jo Jeeta Wahi Superstar 'and 'Fear Factor'. Talking about 'Fear Factor', the dare devil Mandira says, "I broke my foot and have a metal rod with seven screws holding the bones in place, but I would love to do it again. It's all about adventure sports and I'm a junkie there."

Amongst all this, the Mandira fever was fast increasing even for her ‘dressing sense’. She proudly says, “It was my decision to wear saris for the Indian matches and other clothes for the other matches. People had been wearing them before, but they were called ‘spaghetti’ straps – but now, famously, Read More">they became ‘noodle’ straps.Read More

Amongst all this, the Mandira fever was fast increasing even for her 'dressing sense'. She proudly says, "It was my decision to wear saris for the Indian matches and other clothes for the other matches. People had been wearing them before, but they were called 'spaghetti' straps - but now, famously, they became 'noodle' straps. While earlier, they'd been worn by the fashionistas alone, they now came into every woman's wardrobe."

It's no wonder that, after all of this, Mandira became a national phenomenon. She, gradually, took to the ramp and walk for prestigious names like Satya Paul, Archana Kochar to Swapnil Shinde and Ritu Kumar. Needless to say that Mandira always was a show stopper!

Not many know that the ‘Shanti’ serial was not just a ‘hit’ in India, but a smash hit in Sri Lanka. Mandira goes onto says, “There would be near hysteria whenever I went there, with people lining the streets to catch a glimpse of me. I felt like a queen, Read More">waving to people from myRead More

Not many know that the 'Shanti' serial was not just a 'hit' in India, but a smash hit in Sri Lanka. Mandira goes onto says, "There would be near hysteria whenever I went there, with people lining the streets to catch a glimpse of me. I felt like a queen, waving to people from my car. Once the then Prime Minister even grumbled good-naturedly that some Indian film star had caused a traffic jam on the roads." All this hysteria was followed up with her subtle yet powerful role in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Mandira does confess that, "Post DDLJ, unfortunately, I was offered only sister roles. I didn't want to do inconsequential roles in movies when I had such meaty ones on TV. The 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' role was good, but after a gap they wanted me to become a totally black character, whereas earlier, shades of grey had already worked quite well. So I opted out." Post all of this, her famous tryst with cricket happened. Talking about which, she says, "Anchoring for cricket happened when I was feeling fed up with the whole TV soap scenario. I'd been to Sri Lanka in 2002 to watch the Champions Trophy and Sony had the telecast rights for that season. Someone from Max saw me and asked what I was doing there. At the meeting later, the first question they asked me was, "What's the score?" They chose me because I was a familiar face. They knew I was 'kaccha' at this but figured that I would bring in the female audience by asking the laypersons questions. The experts were there to take care of the rest."