EXCLUSIVE: Angad Bedi: The first time I held Mehr Dhupia Bedi was when she came out of Neha's womb

Peace is the beauty of life. It is sunshine. It is the smile of a child, the love of a mother, the joy of a father, the togetherness of a family. It is the advancement of man, the victory of a just cause, the triumph of truth - Menachem Begin.

Fatherhood is one amazing feeling and its hard to explain it in a few words. Angad Bedi and Neha Dhupia are now parents to their beautiful daughter, Mehr Dhupia Bedi. Mehr means blessing and for both Angad and Neha, she is a true blessing indeed. We always celebrate motherhood, and now, its time to celebrate fatherhood as well. Angad has been making sure that he supports Neha all the time, and for him, Mehr has been lucky and he has become more responsible. Neha and Angad's marriage took everyone by surprise, and then, the announcement of pregnancy was yet again a sweet surprise for the fans. They confirmed pregnancy a little over three months after their wedding. There were rumours of Neha's pregnancy ever since their wedding. Angad took this into account as he wrote on Twitter, “Ha! Turns out this rumour is true.. #3ofus.” 

We got in touch with Angad Bedi to know about his reaction when he held his daughter Mehr Dhupia Bedi in his hands for the first time and he also got candid about fatherhood. 

Here are the excerpts from the interview:

What was your reaction when you held Mehr for the first time in your arms?

The first time I held her was when she came out of her mother's womb. I cut the chord and for me, it was a surreal moment. You know till the time it doesn't happen you don't understand. When the delivery is about to happen, those are moments I will always consider them as the most special. Winning an award or signing of the film can never be compared to the feeling of holding a newborn in your arms. I feel that Mehr Dhupia Bedi is my biggest achievement and I take full pride in being called her father. She has got the DNA of both me and Neha and I believe she is going to be a hardworking individual. She already has a strong mindset of her own, She has got strong likes and dislikes. We have got two nurses to take care. She has a fondness for one and complete disliking for the another. She is growing up and she is already 4.5 kgs. She is pulling height really fast. Neha is 5.9 and I am 6.1, we will definitely have a tall Mehr. My everything reloves around her and she has brought me a lot of luck. I have managed to sign four projects. I have finished shooting for three of them and one, I will start in February.  All my producers and directors have been kind and they adjusted even when Neha was expecting. I just want Mehr to be a good human being who values everything in life and understand the fact of making money through hard work. This is what my parents taught me and I hope they are here for long enough to inculcate the same in Mehr. Hard work and perseverance are the two things as parents we want her to imbibe in herself. I would like to put her in many sports-based activities. Neha asked me one day, 'What do you want Mehr to do' and I said, 'I would want her to win a Gold medal for the country in Olympics'. It's the age of women and we have examples like that of PV Sindhu, Sania, and Saina. We would like to encourage her to stay close to nature and away from Ipad or phones. I would want her to learn from grandparents. My dad has many anecdotes to share from the world of cricket and Neha's father is from the Navy. She will have a mix of both the worlds. 

Mehr Dhupia Bedi - your daughter has taken both the surnames and not just your surname which is a very progressive thing to do... 

I am really proud of my wife and she has done exceptionally well in her career. She has worked really hard and made a name for herself. For me, it's a mark of respect and I really admire my father-in-law. Her surname is important to me and we would want her to understand the concept of equality from day 1. She is not just a Bedi. Yes, there is Bedi attached to her and she will realize the value of it much later in her life when she knows who her grandfather is. I feel it's all about equality. She belongs to both the families and I just felt that it's a correct thing to do. 

Whenever Mehr would step out, there will be paparazzi everywhere. Do you feel somewhere this paparazzi culture is taking away the normal childhood that parents want to give to their children? Have you thought on these lines? 

Media is doing their job and I can't comment on whether they are doing right or wrong, I feel if parents really want to secure their child, they can. I have never seen a picture of Adi sir (Aditya Chopra) and Rani mam's daughter out in the media. If you really want to protect your child, you can. I just want Mehr to maintain her innocence as long as possible. With all this exposure, the child tends to grow faster and that's not really good. We will try and protect her as much as possible from this culture. We would want to give her a very normal childhood. 

Who decided the name Mehr - you or Neha?

There's a very interesting story to it. My father whenever he signs off on texts or facetime chat, he will always say 'Guru Mehr Kare' (God Bless you). This is how he expresses himself and Mehr means blessing. Neha said that 'I really like how your dad says Mehr Kare and it's a beautiful name and that's how we kept the name. Neha took it from my dad. Mehr is someone who gives us a lot of happiness. We are in a very insecure profession and you are judged every time. It consumes you completely and once I come back home to Mehr and Neha, its a beautiful world altogether. The biggest compliment I got was after I had Mehr in my life. Now, you have to start thinking in terms of three and not one. We are a family of three and it makes your more responsible in a nice way. My father said your eyes have changed and they have become softer. She is bringing us luck for sure. 

We just got to know that Neha is taking Mehr to Delhi for Roadies audition...

They have already reached Delhi. We call her trouper. We went to Alibaug and that was a four and half hour drive. We came back and she was peaceful all the time. Neha was quite worried how will Mehr be in the flight and again, she was a very peaceful passenger on the flight. She likes adventure, and now, Neha also plans to take her to Roadies also. Those 20 days would be challenging for mother and daughter and I am trying to work on my schedule as much as possible so that I can spend time with them also. And why not? If her mother is a trouper, she can be a trouper. I would rather say Like Mother Like Daughter. I would really want Mehr to take all the qualities of her mother. Neha is an amazing mother, daughter, sister, and wife. She does everything to her best of the abilities. Mehr should have a closer bond with Neha as she will get to learn a lot. I have observed Neha from years and after 17 years, she has really reinvented herself and I am proud of my wife's qualities. 

When you announced you both are expecting, there were some people who posted nasty stuff and even went up to say that that pregnancy would have been one of the reasons for the marriage. How do you tackle all this negativity when you are in such a happy phase of your life? Does all of it affect you somewhere?

Its a free country and everyone has a point of view. Someone will have a good point of view and someone will have a bad one. This is what we have to take in our stride being a known person or being a part of the entertainment industry. Honestly, both applause and negativity don't affect me. Beyond a point, I try and distance myself from both because I believe in maintaining a mental equilibrium. If a situation like this arises in the West, we want to read about it and we are like 'oh so good' and if something happens here, we have to criticize it. I think it's the hypocrisy of society and that's not going to change. You should know that your conscious is clear. Eventually, kuch toh log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehena. It's true. Yes sometimes, when it goes out of your hand, then it affects. Like, Neha tweeted that it's going to be a challenge taking Mehr to Delhi and someone responded to it saying 'Why is it difficult as you have two nurses and how is it challenging then and you are rich people and you can afford it, Get real'. I responded to that gentleman and said that it's no harm in working hard and if you want to make money, work hard for it and then you can also afford it. If someone can afford it, they can. Both

Neha and I have to work for every ounce of it. There's a reason that we all have a support staff so that we can go out and work. 

On an ending note, how was your 2018 and what are your expectations from 2019?

2018 was a fruitful year both professionally and personally. I had a beautiful release this year called Soorma that did well for me. Post that, I have signed three more projects - one is with Ekta Kapoor and one film is with Zoya Actor. In 2018, I had two releases, and in 2019, I have four releases. Workwise, it has been great. On the personal front, I will never forget it as I married the woman I love and she now happens to be my wife and mother of our beautiful daughter, Mehr. She came into our lives in 2018 on 18 November and you can't ask for more. Its got happiness and I hope 2019 does the same for us and everyone who is working hard to achieve something in life.