Neena Gupta opens up on her early film days, career choices, life after Badhaai Ho's success

Neena Gupta reclaimed her place as one of the finest actresses of her generation with Badhaai Ho . Her performance brought widespread praise across quarters. In a recent interview with Rajeev Masand, Neena opened up about her career in her early days, her current aspirations and daughter and designer Masaba Gupta’s wish to become a Bollywood actress. Talking about her early days into the film business, the actress said that she never got the kind of roles that she had wished for. Most of the ‘good’ roles would be passed on to Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil or Deepti Naval, three actresses known for their remarkable work in alternate cinema. [caption id=“attachment_6474601” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Rajeev Masand 9left) with Neena Gupta. YouTube screengrab[/caption] As a  modern and liberal woman, Neena’s decision to have Masaba out of wedlock with noted cricketer Vivian Richards, cost her dearly. The actress added that often she would not be considered for roles since she was termed the ‘modern’ woman, which did not fit into the framework of an Indian actress. Talking about Masaba’s aspirations of becoming an actress, Neena added that she had tried persuading her daughter to not pursue the career of a Bollywood actress. It is at the time that she met Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar and requested the two to convince Masaba. And though the two promised to do it, they could not take Neena’s phone call when the time came. Neena Gupta joked and said: “They gave me there number and phir phone he nahi uthate the (didn’t take my calls).” On hearing that one of them had indeed told Rajeev of the incident, the actress was pleasantly surprised.

But as an actress herself, it would be odd to consider the fact that she tried to stop Masaba from a career she chose herself. However, the actress justified, saying, “I told her if you want to be an actor then you go abroad. Because tumhara jis tarah ka shakal hai aur body hai, tumhe yahan Indian mileu mein bohot kum role milenge, even if you become a good actor. So, tumko woh heroine nahi milegi. Hema Malini nahi banoge, Alia (Bhatt) nahi banoge.” Neena justified her stance saying that she was just trying to give Masaba a real picture of Bollywood at the time.

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The veteran confessed that Masaba’s decision to part ways with husband and filmmaker Madhu Mantena came as a complete shock to her and she, like any other mother, sat Masaba down and tried deterring her from the decision. However, she stated, she still loves Madhu a lot. Neena’s Instagram post in 2017 garnered attention when she had shared the fact that she was a ‘good actor’ looking for ‘good parts’ to act in. This was followed by her work in Badhaai Ho and Mulk. The veteran will next be seen in Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari’s Panga

Watch the entire interview  here.