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By Abigail Rodricks ©2004 Bollyvista.com |
But with Mandira far away in South Africa, the person who had to face the flak was her husband. "Raj was super supportive. Every time any magazine, radio station or newspaper called he'd say, 'Give her a break. She isn't a commentator or a cricketer or an analyst. She is there as a presenter and that's what she is doing. She is passionate about the game, she enjoys cricket, so cut her some slack'. All through this time he was as strong as a pillar, solid as a rock," she says of her better half.
Even after the Mandira mania died down, it was difficult to lose the cricket presenter image. "Ever since the World Cup people still come up to me and talk to me like they know me. They just start talking cricket." But none of these experiences beat the time a man came up to her door saying she met him every night in his dreams. "That was really scary. I yelled for my husband and told him 'you handle this one'."
One can't deny the fact that Mandira brought to the game an element of glamour as well as the naïveté of the average female cricket fan. In her latest avatar, championing the cause of the Women's Cricket Association, she proves that her association with the game is far from over. "I wouldn't be a hypocrite to say that I've followed women's cricket all my life. I have followed the men's game since childhood, as my brother has been very fond of cricket. I have only just started following women's cricket. There was a series happening and I noticed that they were a good bunch of girls. So when there was the match at Brabourne stadium, my husband suggested that I meet the team. I went there uninvited, bought my own ticket and watched the game. There was no advertising anywhere. There was no crowd support. People who spotted me were more interested in talking to me than watching the match. And I kept telling them these women on the field are the real stars; they are the cricketers. You should be watching them. During the lunch break when I popped into the dressing room to congratulate them, the women of the WCA asked me if I could help them in any way," she explains. The WCA's list of woes is long and their condition pitiful. "They don't have any funding, they don't have any help. They need sponsorships badly because there's a complete lack of facilities; they travel by second class rail, live in dormitories when on tour, they cannot even afford to have tours here in India and invite teams from out because they just don't have the money," she reveals.
"They just beat the New Zealand team, who are supposed to be the women's champions, 4-1. And if they've done that they do deserve a little help. It's like a vicious circle; if there's no funding, then facilities are not good. If facilities are not good, how can they excel? But since they are excelling despite the lack of facilities they could do so much better with some help," she says with conviction.
"I have never raised funds in my life; I don't know the ABC of funding. But I've taken this on and suddenly I find myself in the thick of things and there is a huge responsibility that goes with this. I was going to employ a PR agency for this. Come out with a formal press release. Make use of all my contacts. Plus my husband makes commercials so he has some contacts. But the way things have worked; I haven't had to do a thing. I got a call from the Times Of India saying they wanted to cover this for the BT front page. Sahara News has also put me in the National news and their sports bulletin. I will be going on NDTV live. The whole thing has snowballed. I am simply approaching brands that I have been endorsing. The interest is coming from outside," she enthuses.
What does she hope to achieve from her efforts? "I want that there should be funding for these women for proper facilities. I want to create interest in the women's game itself. I would like to try and get coaches who are ex-cricketers. Most ex-cricketers want to work with the men. They don't even mind coaching the second string teams like India A, India B, etc. So were going to try and pull expertise and help from ex-cricketers. The Australian, English and New Zealand team are merged with the men's cricket association. They are under one body. So there's no shortage of funds for them. That is my eventual goal. That would make things really comfortable for the women's game. We as women follow the men's game. If we only watch the women's game and support them, it will be a great moral booster."
She continues, "On a personal level as well this is a challenge for me because I usually lack initiative. I can very easily turn producer and make a serial for myself. But one of my main problems is that I lack drive, which is why I am very keen to see this project through, as so many people are depending on me."
Mandira refuses to plan her career. She turns instead to her husband, who is motivated and decided, for help and advice. "He is one terrific husband. Touch wood. I always run an idea past him first. He helps me make the right decision. He wants me to do well," she says. But having a wife whose choice of wardrobe takes up reels of newsprint could leave any man insecure. "I have been acting for a while so I may be the more recognizable. But he has no ego hassles and that is so hard to find in a man. I don't know which other husband would let his wife go off to South Africa for 7 weeks and stay back home alone. He is okay with my constant traveling. A lot of what I have achieved has happened post marriage and that is mainly because of his support. I am not one of those Bharatiya naris who are grateful that their husband allows them to work, but to be able to do the things I can, with the total freedom I have, is because of him."
But not all Bedi's ventures have been as satisfying as taking on the mantle of sports presenter. Her role in 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' left her quite disappointed, forcing her to opt out of the soap. "I took on Kyunki purely because I hadn't done anything negative. I enjoyed doing it the first time round, but when they did the 20-year jump I just felt my character did not grow. This is a woman who is 20 years older with a 20-year-old son, yet nothing's changed about her. There she was faking a pregnancy, now she is faking amnesia. Moreover I was looking the same; exactly the same hairdo, the same look, not a wrinkle on my face...the character was not doing anything for me. When I spoke to Ekta about it she said she wasn't ready to kill the character and would rather replace me. I was fine with that. Now there is a very capable actress called Achint Kaur who is now playing my role and I wish her all the best." Apart from the lack of character growth, she points out that there were things she just wasn't comfortable doing. "They wanted me to forth in the mouth. I said I could do an asthma attack if you like but I am not going to froth in the mouth. I put my foot down where I could, but there were some things I couldn't change even though they disturbed me," she shrugs explaining her decision to quit.
The husband and wife duo have been working together in a movie, which will be released soon. "The movie is called 'Shaadi Ka Laddoo' and it isn't a movie made by my husband to showcase me, as many believe. It is a fun, lighthearted film about marriage, where the two protagonists are men, namely Sanjay Suri and Ashish Choudhury," she says of this next project.
Mandira Bedi is now busier than she has ever been. Apart from the three movies she is acting in, there's of course the fundraising for the women's cricket team and the Champion's Trophy coming up later. Plus she has been signed on by MAX as the face of their channel and will be associated with them for the entire year. "I cannot do sport related programmes on any other channel apart from Sony. As part of the MAX initiative to increase their audience base, I am also traveling to 11 markets across the country. We just did Ludhiana and Amritsar recently. I am also helping promote Sony MAX. There's a contest called Mandira Apke Ghar that has received a great response. I just finished a play at the NCPA called Laughing Wild and I will be starting a new play with Raell very soon," she says in conclusion.
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