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Yeh Bedi bindaas hai

Pooja Bedi is the new high priestess of the tube that has the TRPs shooting up. SYEDA FARIDA finds out from the diva just why

JUST POOJA The vivacious talk show host is busy as a bee PHOTO: P.V. Sivakumar

Life has definitely come full circle for the KamaSutra girl (remember her sizzling commercial that shook up the ad world), who went on to the silver screen with Vishkanya and Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, and now returns to the tube. And how? Just Pooja is not just scorching the TRP, it has viewers chanting the `you have to watch that show' mantra. The brand ambassador of Kaya Skin Clinic was in town recently, this time basking in the limelight - Pooja Bedi is chosen for the GR8 Women Achievement Awards for her show.

Dressed in pretty pink accessorised with chic fashion jewellery in matching rose tone, Pooja, strumming her manicured fingers on the table as she gets details on the award on her SMS, looks 100 per cent the new high priestess of the tube who incidentally makes people sit up and take a pragmatic look at topics that would have hitherto been lying in the closet or spoken in hushed tones. The show features the cream of who's who in its episodes.

"We have covered topics ranging from homosexuality to transexuality, death of pop music in the industry, actors ageing in cinema, invasion of privacy. It's an issue based show. We don't call celebrities to talk about themselves but to lend to that episode," says Pooja. If Aamir Khan spoke about method acting, Ram Gopal Verma discussed underworld and Sania Mirza featured on the `too much too soon' chat. Others to have graced the show include Shobhaa De, Kiran Bedi, Amrita Singh and others.

"When I travelled to Dubai recently and was shopping at the malls, I have the 11-18 year olds coming over to tell me that they have seen my shows," she observes. Inarguably one of the best recognition for the anchor who had rubbed Big B on the wrong side, on her Amul India Show with her spirited interviewing technique that is incidentally a rage today. "That was eight years ago. It was a silly incidence over and done with," she observes. Her show stands in the same league as KBC, Indian Idols and Saregama today.

"It's been a long and happy journey. I have gained things and lost things on the way. I lost people, my mother and brother. I am happy to be on the planet. Each day is a new experience. There is no reason to be sad," she adds. A successful stint as a columnist with a daily, where she penned the "journey of a woman as I experienced as a citizen of Mumbai, as a single woman in India replete with tongue in cheek references," and the much talked about volume Timepass complete the list. "Timepass was my mother's memoirs, stories written by her and compiled and edited by me. I released the volume in 2000," she reflects.

Currently balancing work life with her attention on her two children, Pooja observes, "professionally there is too much on my platter. There are two more shows on the tele on the anvil. Television is a powerful medium and reaches out to the remotest of villages. It helps shape the mind. I am also invited to compere shows and represent the fraternity. I have already travelled to Japan, Dubai, London and to metros in the country and the year has just begun." Way to go.

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