"Attempts are on", Mandira Bedi

Actress-anchor Mandira Bedi's waist is shrinking by the day and she is looking her fittest ever, but she says she is now ready to "experience the joys of motherhood".

"Koshish jaari hai (attempts are on), " Mandira, who tied the knot with filmmaker Raj Kaushal in 1999, quipped on being asked about when she is planning to go the family way.

"I am totally ready to experience the joys of motherhood and I am mentally geared up for it. In my head, I am ready for it. The sooner it happens, the better, " added the 37-year-old.

Mandira was here to attend the ongoing Good Housekeeping Show 2010, where she was invited as a celebrity guest along with actress Raveena Tandon.

But the actress says handling a child and managing her professional life simultaneously would not be easy for her as she doesn't have her family in Mumbai.


"It (managing a child) will become a little difficult for me as I don't have a lot of family support in Mumbai. My parents live in Delhi and my in-laws stay in US, " she said.

Dressed in a sexy, hot pink dress and lots of silver bangles, Mandira completely defied her age.

Having earned fame at a young age through popular TV show "Shanti" in 1994, Mandira

kept making appearances in movies like "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" after which she hosted a string of reality shows. In 2008, she was seen in the film "Meerabai Not Out", a film based on cricket.

So what's keeping her busy these days?

"I am doing a lot of theatre. I am involved with two plays - one of them will be staged for the 151st time soon and the other has had three shows, " she said.

"Also the cricket season is here, so I am doing corporate shows and I will be associated with the IPL (Indian Premiere League (IPL) cricket tournament) in a way I haven't been before. I can't reveal much about it. But yes, IPL will be taking up the next month and a half of my life, " said Mandira.

As for her absence from the Bollywood scene, she said: "Filmmakers don't know what to do with me. With my short hair, they don't know whether to cast me as a man or woman.

No, jokes apart, they either offer me item numbers or sister's roles or a lead with some inconspicuous banner - none of which is what I want to do. So I am just waiting and keeping myself busy."

Check out Mandira's sexy ramp walk video:

Sexy pictures of Niroo Singh

Raima Sen plays as a widow!

Raima Sen will be soon seen playing a widow in Aparna’s Sen directorial film The Japanese Wife – A love poem under Saregama films banner. The actor tells us that she enjoyed herself thoroughly shooting for the film.

Tell us about your character in The Japanese Wife?
I play the role of “Sandhya” in this film who is a widow and single mother of an 8-year-old. This is the first time I’ve played a character which is not glamorous but didn’t want to let go off this opportunity as this is Aparna Sen’s film.

So what’s the story of The Japanese Wife?
This is a haunting but improbable love story which revolves around a young village school teacher (Rahul Bose) marrying his Japanese pen friend (Chigusa Takaku) over letters and remaining true and loyal to her throughout his life, while actually never meeting her.


Sources claim that this film is based on a book?
That’s absolutely true! The film is based on title story of The Japanese Wife and Other Stories by Anglo-Indian author Kunal Basu, who writes from Oxford.

How was it working with tough task master aka perfectionist Aparna Sen?
Well honestly, I was scared before because I had this pre-conceived notion that she is really tough on the sets.

Whenever I goofed up during a scene, she used to explain and even yell when needed but gradually it went smoothly. She used to pamper me like her daughter and it was such a wonderful experience working with her. I’m truly blessed.

How was it working with your co-star Rahul Bose?
I think he’s brilliant as an actor and I learnt a lot from him. We shared a good rapport and I enjoyed a lot.

Most of your work is non-commercial films. Any specific reason for that?
I’ve no idea but whatever I get, I do without any complaints.

What are your upcoming films?
There are a few of them like Sunglass, Vinay Shukla’s film Mirch and Rituparna Ghosh’s Nauka Doobi.

Kareena and Shahid Kapoor together again?

Plans for bringing Kareena and Shahid Kapoor together to promote their pending project Milenge Milenge have been called off. It has now been decided by producer Boney Kapoor that the pair will promote the film individually.

This, to avoid Kareena who's in a committed relationship, any embarrassment and awkwardness, although Shahid who had no objections to collaborating with Kareena on the promotion seems unaware of these developments.

When asked if he'd be willing to promote the film jointly with Kareena Shahid says enthusiastically, “Yes, I'll do everything I can to promote it. Of course I'll do everything in my power to see the film gets properly released. It's my film.

Shahid says he has no problems whatsoever promoting the film with Kareena. However producer Boney Kapoor feels it's wiser and more discreet to let Shahid and Kareena do separate promotional work.

Says Boney, “We're getting Shahid and Kareena to do separate promotional activities. That way we give them space to be comfortable with the situation and also we get twice the amount of publicity for Milenge Milenge that we would if the pair promoted the film jointly”

Shahid has not only decided to go all-out for Milenge Milenge he has also been taking interest in the release date to ensure that it releases at a time when it is likey to get the best audience.

He recently had a meeting with producer Boney Kapoor and they mutually agreed to postpone the release from April to later during the year.

Says Shahid, “We met and took a joint decision. Boneyji was co-operative. Otherwise I'd have had three releases—Milenge Milenge, Paathshala and Badmaash Company—in one month.”

Boney says he's getting Milenge Milenge ready for release in the last week of June or the first week of July. “Milenge Milenge would be Shahid's last release until his father's film Mausam.Kareena and he look gorgeous together.”

In fact Shahid is enormously enthusiastic about Milene Milenge. Last week he met the film's director Satish Kaushik on the steps of the highrise apartment building that they share.

Says Satish emotionally, “Though we live in the same building Shahid and I never meet! I know him from the time he was a child. On Saturday night we bumped into each other in our highrise compound after a party.

We spoke for nearly an hour about Milenge Milenge. Shahid told me the project is very dear to him and that he would go all out to promote the film however my producer Boney Kapoor and I wanted. Sahid is at our disposal.He asked me when are we shooting the music video.”