In a significant development, Mandira Bedi, who became a household name with the World Cup last year, will be associated with events and movies channel MAX, on a regular basis. Bedi, who appeared in Extraaa Innings and Extraaa Shots on the channel last year, has signed an exclusive contract with MAX, making her a more or less permanent fixture on the channel.

Speaking about the channel's decision to include the actress cum anchor on its rolls, Rajat Jain, executive vice-president and business head, MAX, says, "Mandira will contribute to MAX's programming and marketing initiatives. She has been actively associated with MAX for close to a year now and we have some exciting and interactive avenues that will have her and MAX take the passion of movies and events to our viewers across the country."

To begin with, Mandira has been signed for an exclusive ground promotion titled Mandira Aapke Ghar, which has her visiting homes of MAX viewers and spending time with their families.

The promotion began on January 10, 2003 at Ludhiana in Punjab, traveling to Amritsar the following day with the objective of covering key towns and cities over the next three months.

The idea, as Jain of MAX asserts, is to increase the salience of the channel by establishing a personal connect with people via Bedi. "Mandira has become a new-age icon representing the aspirations of millions of women who are coming out of the kitchen and asserting themselves in their respective professions. Mandira established herself as a firm favourite in the hitherto male territory of cricket presentation. Glamorous yet real, beautiful, intelligent, charming, assertive and enduring, these are some personality traits we believe Mandira shares with our channel," he adds.