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| Sunday, 9 May 2004 |
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Mandira Bedi : Plays an extra innings by Farah Macan Markar
Having followed Women's Cricket ever since last year, Mandira's been a part of the Indian Women's Cricket Team acting as their representative, in her try to give women's cricket more publicity and sponsorship. She's followed all their matches and was here in Sri Lanka on the final day, to support her team in the series which India won five nil. Mandira's always had a love for the game but her publicity in it sparked entirely by a matter of chance, in Sri Lanka. Travelling to Sri Lanka on vacation in September 2003 Mandira decided to go see the ICC Mini World Cup which was being played here. It was a decision which would take the actress into a whole new dimension if cricket. "The broadcasting commentators of the match saw me there and were pretty impressed. They asked me to sign up as a Cricket TV Presenter". And Cricket TV Presenter Mandira did become, presenting the "Extra Innings" show which was telecast pre, lunch and post the 2003 World Cup.
Mandira took it as her responsibility to get the funding for the Indian Women's Cricket team. Among the main sponsors the team has got from her publicity are Asmi Diamonds and Citi Bank. "I haven't raised funds for anything else before. That was my first. I am happy to help the Indian women cricket team for they play a good game and put a lot of hard work into it" says Mandira. As for the game of cricket itself, Mandira's always had a soft spot for it, coming from a father and brother crazy about cricket. "At the beginning I wasn't into cricket, but with your whole family watching it and talking about it the whole time you more or less get drawn into it". Bedi's elder brother is a banker, a career she once thought she'd pursue having then had the "following the elder sibling" mentality. However Mandira soon realized, banking was not her field. "I used to adore my brother and think I could do anything he could. However we have very different personalities, my brother being the logical and practical one, while I'm more on the artistic, creative, dreamy side of life".
Keeping with the grass is always a greener theme, the storyline follows the lives of two friends who meet up ten years after last seeing each other in high school. One of them is married while the other is not and both envy the other's predicament. Four women surround the lives of these two men. The married man's wife, the girl he meets in London and becomes infatuated with (Mandira), the girl who falls in love with the unmarried man and a woman who uses people to get her way. With a lot of song and dance keeping in tune to bollywood tradition, Mandira says her husband hopes to release the film soon in Sri Lanka as well. Other than presenting cricket, Bedi also does TV presenting for films which is a novel concept for Indian TV. It's a pre-film show in which Mandira talks about various trivia surrounding the film which is to be telecasted. "I talk about simple things which are of interest relating to the film, such as little episodes which happened while shooting, something about the actors and actresses, about their clothes, the making of the set etc". Doing TV series, feature films, TV presenting, advertisements, being involved with women's cricket, a question Mandira has often asked is "What does she like best?". Mandira's answer, "Everything. I don't think I need to chose what I like best. I feel its a privilege to be able to do a variety of things in my life in the first place". |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Her name is Mandira Bedi, but most of you will know her as Shanti, that
strong woman with motivation and drive who has an emotional and vulnerable
side to her as well. Having visited Sri Lanka 20-21 times, sometimes
officially and sometimes not, Mandira was once more in our island from the
29th to the 1st of May 2004 not as an actress, but as an ambassador of
Women's Cricket for the Women's Cricket Asia Cup which was held in Sri
Lanka.
Representing women as a presenter in men's cricket was not enough for
Mandira. She joined up with the women's cricket team of India. However
Mandira feels international women's cricket, specially in Asia is not as
recognized as it should be. "In India and even in Sri Lanka, cricket
is a part of our lives. We always hear of the matches and everyone goes
crazy. But when it comes to women's cricket, no one is interested, even
though they play a good quality game".
Although being more recognized for her role in TV series, Mandira,
having done her first feature film 9 years ago, just re-leased her second
"Shaadi Ka Laddo" this April. Being one of her husband's feature
films, "Shaadi" which means "Marriage" and "Laddo"
which means "the wedding sweet" is a metaphor on marriage. The
metaphor being "If eat the sweet, you'll regret it and if you don't
eat the sweet you'll regret it too". Thus hinting that "If you
marry you'll regret it and if you don't marry you'll regret it too".
