She may not be a true cricket enthusiast but over the past two months, Miss Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova, who has been co-hosting the IPL after-match parties has learnt a lot about the game.
In Bangalore for the second time, Natalie describes the City as a melting pot of cultures. The first time she arrived here was soon after winning the title. “I had come for some charity work and had loved the City as it suited my lifestyle but now I can see that a lot has changed. I notice there are fewer trees and that’s really sad,” she says.
Having been part of the Miss Universe competition and winning it in 2005,
Natalie says that the platform has allowed her to pursue everything she wanted to do.
“The Miss Universe pageant has been a wonderful platform. I never wanted to be a model. In fact, I always aspired to be a businesswoman. It was by chance that I got into the pageant. But from the grooming process to the opportunities it opened out — everything was awesome, making my dream to become a businesswoman come true,” says Natalie, who is originally from Canada and has moved to Thailand to settle down with her husband.
Hosting the IPL also was by chance. Natalie says she wanted to try something different.
“Here was an opportunity that had presented itself and I thought why not?” she says. But for someone who knew nothing about cricket, wasn’t it challenging?
“It was not like I knew nothing. My husband plays a bit of cricket and so does my son. But yes, the players and the production team have been kind and now I can pretty much understand the entire format,” she says.
With so many of our Indian beauty pageant winners stepping into movies, one wonders if Natalie too has similar dreams to which, she frankly says, “I am actually hoping to get some Bollywood offers through this show. I love Indian movies and it would be fun to do a running-around-the-trees and a song-and-dance sequence.”
So does she want to work with any particular actor? “I wouldn’t mind acting opposite Salman Khan,” she gushes. Are you listening Salman?
Megha Shenoy