‘Daily soaps are like a factory’

Actor Mandira Bedi (right) is still loved by many for essaying a strong-willed woman in the popular 90’s TV drama Shanti - Ek Aurat Ki Kahani. But she says she doesn’t see herself acting in a daily soap again, as it is like a factory.

The actor, who featured in the hit finite series 24 last year and also participated in a reality show, says, “I don’t see myself acting in a daily soap because that is like a factory. You need to give 25 days in a month, which I do not have, as I’m busy with my store and the events that I do. If I do something, it will be finite,” says Mandira.

But what about movies? “There is nothing at the moment, as people don’t know what to do with me in a movie. I get offered an item number one day and a bhabhi’s (sisterin-law) role the other day, and then somebody’s sister the next day,” she says.

The audience will have to wait to see her on the big screen, as the actor says she won’t don the greasepaint unless she gets “a role that excites” her and one that she wants to give her time to.

“I have a four-year-old son too. I can play a bhabhi, mother or daughter, but it has to be a role that matters. I want a pivotal role even if that means that I have five scenes in a film.”

As for the fashion world, the actor has big plans. Mandira, who ventured into fashion designing in 2013, hopes to move beyond saris some day. Any plans of creating a line for men? “I love saris. I also need to move to other women silhouettes before I do men’s wear. I never say never for anything. I would love to be a designer who covers women’s wear, Indian and western, and men’s wear,” she says.