Mandira Bedi was severely criticised for hosting cricket matches: I wasn’t allowed to read comments on social media

After starring in popular movies and shows, Mandira Bedi was appointed as the first female cricket presenter, following which she found a place in the sports community. Now, in an interview, the actor revealed she was criticised for the hosting gig and was even told to stay away from social media to avoid the negativity. (Also read: Mandira Bedi says she was ignored by cricket legends while hosting World Cup: ‘Would put my head down and cry’)

Looking back

In an interview with Curly Tales, the actor revealed she landed the anchoring gig by being at the ‘right place at the right time”. She was appointed as the first female cricket presenter by Sony in 2003 for the World Cup.

But becoming a sports presenter had a negative impact on her acting career. Mandira shared she wasn’t allowed to read people’s comments.

Looking back, she said, “We didn’t have social media where you could see people’s comments at that time. We did have internet, but not like now. Sony kept me away from all this. They said, ‘You are not allowed to know what people are saying’. They shut all that out for me. What I did learn from the cricket time is that there’ll be people who like you in life and then there will be people in life who won’t like you. So the ones who like you, be grateful about them and the ones who don’t, don’t try and please them,” she said.

Cricket journey

Talking about starting her journey in the sports world, Mandira said, “In 2002, India beat England and made it to semi-finals of a tournament called the Champions Trophy… Now, because I love cricket, I decided to travel to Sri Lanka to watch the match. So, I booked a ticket for myself and reached there…”

She shared that people from Sony were curious to know why she had spent her own money to attend the tournament, because “at that time, they were flying celebrities down to watch the cricket”, and they had her at the back of their mind as someone who really likes cricket.

As she gained popularity as a host, she stopped getting acting offers. Mandira revealed that she was getting offers for anchoring jobs and MC jobs, as everybody forgot that she was an actor. She had worked as an actor for eight years before taking up the hosting gig. She used to tell people “you have forgotten, but I know acting, I am an actor. I started my career as an actor”.

Mandira Bedi’s showbiz career

Mandira made her acting debut with the television show Shanti (1994-1998). Her first Bollywood film was Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in lead roles. She later featured in films like Shaadi Ka Laddoo (2004), Dus Kahaniyaan (2007), Ittefaq (2017), Vodka Diaries (2018), The Tashkent Files (2019) and Saaho (2019).