Happy Birthday Pooja Bedi

The Girl In The Red Dress: Pooja Bedi turns a year older today. All of 40 now, we wonder how the gorgeous diva manages to stay young at heart. Here's the story of model,anchor and actor Pooja Bedi.

Born in Mumbai in the year 1971 to late Indian classical dancer Protima and actor Kabir Bedi, Bedi was brought up in a bohemian progressive artistic environment. She was given the Buddhist name Karma Saraswati by the Karmapa.

She later changed her name to Noorjehan upon marrying Farhan Furniturewalla whom she met in 1990. The couple have two children, daughter Aalia born in 1997 and son Omar, born in 2000. In 2002 the two divorced, and Furniturewalla later married socialite Laila Khan.

An exceptionally bright student, Bedi was an all-rounder and showed brilliance in sports as well as academics. She was a part of the debating team, chess team, and hockey team!

The stunner first grabbed national attention in 1991 when she appeared in a series of advertisements to promote the condom brand KamaSutra, to raise AIDS awareness.
The explicit content of the ad was a matter of concern at the time. A complaint was lodged with the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

As the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity. After debuting in Jag Mundhra's 1991 film Vishkanya, Pooja landed a part in Nasir Hussain's Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, (1992), where she played the role of the sexy school-girl Aamir Khan's character took a fancy to. The role of a lifetime made Aamir a national heartthrob, while Bedi came to be recognized as the girl who danced atop a car in a show-stopping red dress- enough to titillate the young viewer's mind.
The latter half of the decade was rather uneventful professionally for Pooja Bedi, as she was busy expanding her family. She appeared in a few more films such as Lootere, (1993) and Aatank Hi Aatank, (1995), but failed to make any major impression.

She turned writer with the new millenium, and compiled and edited "Timepass", the memoirs of her mother Protima Bedi. Besides being a columnist with The Times of India, the Hindustan Times and Midday, the talented actress has also written articles for numerous publications, including L'officiel, Femina and The Week.

What could have been a defining moment in Pooja Bedi's showbiz career turned out quite the opposite in the year 2000. The producers of the Amul India Show roped her in to interview none other than the Big B. The interview was never telecast – the decision to withdraw taken allegedly within half hour of its recording. Pooja Bedi claimed pressure from the Big B forced the channel to withdraw. She even said Amitabh Bachchan, “ is very controlled about his image. He was afraid he didn't come across too well in the interview and that's why he decided to squash it at 11 pm, half an hour after it was completed.”

Since 2004, Pooja Bedi once again tried her hand at hosting celebrity talk shows. One of her shows, earlier titled Not Just Page 3 was later known as Just Pooja, a show similar to KJo's Koffee With Karan, in its controversial nature.

Always managing to stay in the public eye for some reason or the other, in 2007 she participated in Jhalak Dikhlaja, after having learnt Latin American ballroom dancing. She later performed with her choreographer/partner Hanif Hilal at events all across the globe. She also took part in more reality shows like Nach Baliye and Khatron Ke Khiladi on Colors channel.

Mommy Time
Here's her birthday plans this year: At disneyland with aalia& omar!finished pirates of the carribean& now on our way 2 splash mountain!

On her Twitter account, which reads "child of the universe, an adventurer, a mother, a humanitarian", Pooja expresses her birthday wish: my birthday May 11th.. my wish? A cheque from you for "THE GRASSROOTS FOUNDATION" at B-4 Beach House, Gandhigram road,Juhu, Mumbai 400061!