On the occasion of Dussehra on Sunday, Mandira Bedi introduced the newest member of her family to the world, daughter Tara Bedi Kaushal. The actress and her filmmaker husband, Rraj Kaushal, who have been trying to adopt a girl for the past three years, finally fulfilled their dream when the four-anda-half-year-old entered their lives in July this year.

Ask Mandira why she was tightlipped about it for almost three months, and she replies, “Until the legal formalities are completed, one is not supposed to make it public. When a child comes home, he/she is considered to be in foster care for the first month; the legal procedures begin after that. However, since the courts were shut, we had to wait.”

Talking about how Tara — a name she and Rraj had finalised years ago — became a part of their family, she shares, “We had applied for adoption three years ago, but it was during the lockdown that I felt the void even more. So, I revisited my adoption application (filed before the Central Adoption Resource Authority). We realised that our wait has been long as we had mentioned a preference for three states from where we would have liked to adopt. We were looking for an older child, since we didn’t want too much of an age gap between her and Vir (the couple’s nine-year-old son). However, nobody matched the criteria. So, we were advised to extend our search across India. Within a week, we found Tara in a place near Jabalpur.” Mandira adds, “Rraj went to Jabalpur first, while Vir and I took a private jet the next day. By the time we reached, he had completed all the legal formalities. We fetched them at the airport and flew back.”

The actress says that Tara hit it off with them from the word go. “We did a few video calls before meeting her, and she kept asking us, ‘When are you coming?’ Today, Tara is very happy and has settled in. She is naughty, fun and absolutely comfortable,” she shares, adding that Vir, too, is revelling in his role as the big brother. “Tara dotes on him and keeps calls him Viru bhaiyya, while he treats her like his pesky little sister. The other day, during one of his online classes, he asked his teacher if he could introduce his sister to the class. All of them got excited and kept asking her questions. We then told them that she can’t speak English and knows only Jabalpuri,” she says.

These days, Mandira is busy tutoring her daughter. “When she came to us, she didn’t know the concept of colours. Now, she knows colours and English alphabets, can count up to 50 and write from 1 to 20. I don’t think it makes sense to enrol her in a school now, as the classes are online. We are teaching her the basics at home, and she will start going to school whenever it reopens,” she says.

The actress mentions that she and Rraj had first dreamt of Tara years ago. “Many years back, we had decided that we would have one biological child and adopt the other. We have always wanted to bring a daughter into our lives, and Tara is a fulfillment of that dream,” she signs off.

Juhi Chakraborty (HINDUSTAN TIMES; March 25, 2020)

Like many others around the world, actor Mandira Bedi, too, is cooped up inside her home amid the Covid-19 crisis. She reveals that she had a brief anxiety attack a few days back because of all the negativity with regards to the present situation.

“I was in Australia for the women’s cricket World Cup and came in on March 9. I was in self-isolation and have been counting the days because the symptoms take 14 days to show. I have been so anxious, nervous and fearful that I actually did work myself up to get an asthma attack out of anxiety,” shares Bedi.

The 47-year-old urges people to stay positive during these times and advises them to stay away from rumours, citing how her attack was a result of that.

“The day I got my attack, I worked myself into a frenzy to get into that space. The night before the incident, the last thing I saw was a video of someone coughing and people not taking it seriously. It was so negative and depressing. The next morning I woke up at 5.30am in a total state of panic,” she says.

Bedi says she is now focusing on just being positive about the situation and wants people to not feel dejected. “I just want people to know that whatever they are going through is real but it is okay. The only thing to now do is to just be positive,” muses Bedi, while adding a tip or two about what one can do at home.

“Have a routine. Use your time to exercise. I am putting a lot of home workout videos because that is what is keeping me going. Besides, I am also home schooling my son (Vir),” adds the actor.

While socialising is out of question, Bedi says she and her husband, Raj Kaushal, have devised a unique way to keep in touch with friends. “What we do is we open a bottle of wine and then we video call our friends and we raise a toast together. Few days ago, I also celebrated my mother’s birthday on video,” she says.

She is not just flaunting a kill bod, but also a killer attitude. Mandira Bedi writes her first book to tell you why you should drop the excuses and work at being happy
Aastha Atray Banan (MID-DAY; February 16, 2020)

Meeting Mandira Bedi is like meeting an energiser bunny. She is back from a whirlwind work trip, and off to another. Still. She offers us poha and coffee, and walks out into the porch of her ground floor Bandra residence to pose for photographs. She is stunning, in black shorts and an aquamarine cover-up. But, we are struck more by her smile than those legs.

It's no wonder that her soon-to-release book is called Happy For No Reason (Penguin Random House). "I am still a work in progress, though!" says Bedi, 47, "I [too] have done a lot of therapy, and hypnotherapy has helped me the most. You get to that spot where it all happens. You know where all the unprocessed feelings are coming from. Every morning, I put out an intent into the universe. I want to be happy for no reason at all. It's a state of being, so I manage it for five days a week. On the other two, things don't go as planned. On those days, I live by gratitude."

And, she swears by exercise. For all those who say they have no time, Bedi has a few suggestions. "Always carry your shoes wherever you go, and walk, anywhere and everywhere. Don't get daunted by lofty goals. Don't start by saying, I need to lose 20 kilos. Start with two. And for two weeks, imandari se, don't eat anything that's bad for you. You will see results. The best motivator is result." Look at her and you know she's not lying.

Bedi shares her top three happiness hacks.

Gratitude: I once read this line that stayed with me. "Where there is gratitude, there is no room for unhappiness." So every time things go wrong, I practice gratitude. I look at the things I have. I always have 20 things I am grateful for.

Exercise: For me, exercise has ceased to be about the physical. It's about how it makes me feel. It brings my negative feelings to the fore, and I watch them dissipate. Before I found therapy, every time Raj [Kaushal, husband] and I fought, he'd say, go for a run. Get the negativity out.

Let Go Of Expectations: Expecting things sets you up for disappointment. A lot of my relationships and friendships have suffered because of my expectations. Accept, not expect. It's no good to expect.

Gave Myself 6 Months To Drop 22 Kg
My delivery was a C-section and I wasn't allowed exercise till forty days after. I also went through a huge bout of postpartum depression. So there I was, living in this new human being's body that I didn't know, recognize or feel. There were tears every day, along with worry and anxiety owing to this new responsibility that I didn't think I was ready for, and, of course, the utter disgust that I felt towards my own body.

A fresh start isn't a place, it's a mindset. Regardless of the state of mind that my raging hormones had brought me to, on the forty-first day, I bought myself a new raincoat. And at 6 am, I went for my first walk, in the thick of the Mumbai monsoon. I told myself that it took me nine months to put on all this weight and I was going to give myself exactly six months to lose it. That's the biggest and most important piece of advice I can give any new mother who wants to get back to where she was (or do even better) post pregnancy. Lose the weight as soon as you can after your delivery. Within six to eight months, if possible. If you leave it for later, your body will get comfortable with and used to the extra weight. And then the task becomes a steep and uphill one. So I worked out hard and I worked out diligently. I ate well (because I was feeding) but nothing that was unnecessary. No sweet, no fried food. If I got only an hour's break from my mommy duties, I would exercise. When I had help and wherever it was possible, maybe once or twice a week, I even somehow managed a two-workout day.

I started running. I gave myself small goals of five minutes at the end of my walk. The five became ten and the ten became twenty. And soon I found myself running for an hour. People met me at the gym and asked me if I was Mandira Bedi's older sister. Because apparently, there was a faint resemblance.

When I did my first public appearance (and I was 10 kg down from the 22 I had to lose), I was asked at a press conference, rather innocently, as to when I would start to lose the weight. That's how insensitive the world can be sometimes. But all of this only drove me to work harder. These words made me push my limits. When they say you can't do it, do it twice and then take pictures!

The other motivation that kept me going was my wardrobe. I don't wear very fancy clothes, but I have jeans that I have from my college days that are very precious to me and they keep me honest. I just wanted to reclaim my wardrobe! I bought myself no in-between clothes. There were the pregnancy clothes and then my 26-inch-waist jeans. There were 74-kg kurtas and size 2 dresses. And six months to the day, I got back to my pre-pregnancy weight and to the clothes that fit me at my fittest. And before I knew it, I was back to work too. I shot for a couple of health magazine covers, and ran two half-marathons after having my baby, and I believe I am my strongest and fittest post being a mum.

Now, at the age of forty-seven, I love and accept my body, with all its strengths and flaws. I look back at my journey with so much gratitude at how far I have come from what I used to be in my twenties. I didn't plan for it, but by default, with the intent and energy I give to exercise and my health, I have a beautiful connect with the world of health, fitness and wellness. And even at this age, I know I can do, be or perform even better than this!

There was a time when I used to work out because I didn't like my body... now I work out because I love my body.

Excerpted with permission from Happy For No Reason by Mandira Bedi and Satyadev Barman, Penguin Random House India

Neha Maheshwri (BOMBAY TIMES; June 5, 2018)

Mandira Bedi became a household name in the ’90s, after playing the protagonist on national television’s first daily soap, Shanti. She followed it up by adding to the glam quotient in Indian cricket. Her stint as an anchor during the World Cup tournaments in 2003 and 2007, earned her the tag, ‘Cricket Girl’. However, more than Mandira’s insight into the game, it was her sartorial choices on the show, especially the noodle-strap blouses, that became a talking point.

Reminiscing those days, she says, “It felt great to be associated with cricket in such a big way. Those days, there was no room for women commentators in any sport. There were some rude comments and they did upset me, initially. However, with time, I realised that people were vocal about their views because they were passionate about the game. Having said that, what most people didn’t realise was that my job was to ask the layman’s questions; I was not an analyst or a commentator. Fortunately, it was a long tournament, so people had enough time to like me (smiles).”

Over the years, Mandira, who made her debut in Bollywood with the blockbuster hit, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ), has also moved to the South.

The actress says, “This is probably the best year of my career. Interesting characters are coming my way now, which wasn’t the case after DDLJ (1995). Back then, I was offered similar roles — of sisters, bhabhis and second leads. That was bad stereotyping. I like how I am stereotyped today, I am getting to play strong and badass roles. It could be because of my short hair and appearance. I either get to play a cop or the antagonist. The way people perceive me now, works for me,” she elaborates.

The actress is also talked about for her fitness. Mandira, who has done pushups in sari and heels, says, “The fitness bug bit me in 2008. Today, I feel fitter than I felt in my 30s and 20s. It was an unplanned reinvention of sorts. All I want to say is, it’s never too late to take your health into your hands. I have been self-training for the past seven years. In fact, I keep a pair of running shoes in my car, which comes in handy whenever I am stuck in traffic.”

Mandira was also in news last year for her wish to adopt a girl. She and her husband Raj Kaushal posted a message on social media after they realised that they don’t meet the eligibility criteria to adopt an infant. However, she hasn’t given up yet. She says, “We have completed the paperwork and are now waiting for it to materialise. I feel a girl will complete our family. Also, girls look after their parents when they grow old.”

Aastha Atray Banan (MID-DAY; January 14, 2018)

We all remember actress Mandira Bedi from her career-defining role as the fiery, opinionated and strong Shanti on the eponymous TV show. That was 24 years ago. She is 45 years old now, has shed the curly hair for a pixie cut, and has been breaking the Internet recently with images of her mind- blowing, chiselled body — she weighs 50 kg art 5 feet four inches — that would put any 20-year-old’s to shame. The abs are defined, the stance confident and the attitude inspiring.

When we spoke to her about how she does it, despite being a mother to a six-year-old, she has a simple, uncomplicated reply, “More than my body, it’s for my mental and emotional stability. If I don’t work out, I am crabby, and my day is off. My husband doesn’t say, ‘chill out’, he says, ‘go workout!’.”

Here she talks to us about going the botox route, how she beat postpartum depression and shed 18 kilos after pregnancy, and why staying fit is as important as looking good in anything that may be hanging in your wardrobe.


When in your life would you say you were the least fit?
That would be anytime before 2005. I would run once in a while, go to the gym once in a while. Then I was called to be on the reality show, Fear Factor, and I decided that if I was going to be on the show, I needed to be fit. Also, after my pregnancy, I gained 22 kg. I suffered from postpartum, depression, and couldn’t work out for 40 days after I gave birth. But then, on the 41st day, when it was raining, I went for a one- hour walk. That’s when I knew everything was going to be fine.

What does being fit mean to you?
To me, being fit means I can match steps with my six-year-old son. I can pick him up and run with him. I have endurance that can put a 20-year-old to shame. But, it’s also about looking good. It means a lot when I can take anything out from my wardrobe and fit into it, without my tummy bulging out. I am in the business of entertainment, and I am photographed. I don’t want to look like a fat, unfit version of me. That makes me feel bad as I know I am not being the best version of me.


What is your fitness routine – how has it changed through the years?
I do a lot of functional training — it’s a mix of weights and cardio, and I do core training four to five times a week as well. I work out six days a week, and run as well. I usually run 10 kilometres at one go. Slowly, I have been increasing the weights that I lift. For example, today at the lateral back pull, I picked up 110 pounds (55 on each side). I focus on building my endurance, which means I never get tired. There are many guys in my gym who are stronger than me, but my endurance is much better. I recently got my fat percentage checked and it falls between 18 to 21 per cent, which is in the athlete zone. I have no trainer — I am self-motivated enough to conduct my exercise routine. If I can’t make it to the gym, I do timed exercises at home — squats for five minutes, lunges for five, abs for two.

How have you adapted your diet and lifestyle to fit this schedule?
I drink on the weekends, and it’s usually a mad weekend, where mayhem happens. My diet is no rocket science — I have eggs for breakfast; dal, roti, sabji for lunch, and for dinner, I just drop the rotis. I am strict Monday through Friday, but on the weekends, I am a sloth and I sleep in. I am the type of person who, if I eat one bite of chocolate, I’ll say, “oh I have already eaten chocolate, so let’s eat it all”.


What changes has your body gone through over the year?
I haven’t felt any such changes at all (laughs). A few years ago, I did botox to fill in the one line on my forehead, and then I couldn’t emote. That’s the last time I did something like that. I think my lifestyle now takes care of all these issues.

Have you achieved what you set out to?
I have run two 21-km marathons in the past few years and want to run a 42-km one soon. I also want to see more definition in my body. These days, I don’t have to suck in my stomach to see abs. They are already there.

Do you have any advice for other women who feel daunted by their age about changing their bodies?
I would say don’t do it for your body, do it for your emotional stability.