I was offered only item numbers: Mandira Bedi

Mandira Bedi, the most celebrated TV presenter-cum-actress, made her debut in Tamil with a brief role in STR’s Manmadhan. Since then, she has been missing in action for 12 years in Kollywood. The actress is now back, donning the role of a cop, in director Shanmugam Muthusamy’s Adangaathey, where she will be sharing screen space with GV Prakash and Sarath Kumar.

Opening up about her role, Mandira says, “It is an important role and I was nervous because I didn’t know the language and how this industry functions. But, as time progressed, I got along really well with my team. When it comes to my role, I have already played a police officer in English series 24, which starred Anil Kapoor. I am not saying that I play a similar role, but I play a police official with a certain kind of attitude and body language in Adangaathey.”

When asked how she is managing to learn the dialogues, she reveals, “The team is so organised that they sent the script in English well in advance. Also, I got another script with my lines in Tamil as well. With the help of a language coach, I speak my lines without prompting.”

So, why was she missing in action for 12 years? — “I was offered only item numbers and did not want to accept as I had it ticked off my bucket list. Years later I got Adangaathey, a Telugu and a Hindi script. I chose the Tamil movie over the two as the script was excellent. After this film, I hope people realise that I can do better than just doing item numbers.”

Mandira, who will also be shooting in Varanasi and Trichy complains that she doesn’t get to workout because of the tight schedule. “Because of the film’s shooting, I am not able to exercise. I follow a strict routine and healthy diet to stay fit. Working out genuinely makes me happy,” she concludes.