Happy with the response to her acting debut, designer Masaba Gupta says eponymous series tackles gender bias, body shaming despite breezy treatment
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; September 7, 2020)

In the week since Masaba Masaba opened to mixed reviews, the show's muse says she has been flooded with messages on social media. "We wanted to deliver a series that is snackable," says Masaba Gupta, whose life forms the foundation for the Netflix offering.

Shouldering a six-part series can be unnerving for someone who has never flirted with acting before, but the designer is assured in front of the camera. "After seeing the first cut, my mom [Neena Gupta] said I was good. I passed the acting test because I had the common sense to not get over-ambitious. With this show, I wanted to shatter the idea that designers faff in the name of work. People told me they didn't know fashion requires work. Secondly, it's necessary to humanise celebrities; they have their own hardships. The show depicts the unfortunate fact that women, no matter how successful, aren't taken seriously."

Having battled body shaming in her early years, she is glad that the Sonam Nair-directed project shatters the conventional idea of beauty. "It gives a boost to the dreams of young girls who don't have conventional bodies or feel they don't have the face to be on screen."

The cliff-hanger indicates that a second season is in the offing. Ask her if she will juggle acting with designing here on, and she says, "Fashion can never take a backseat. But if something good comes my way, I'm game."