Neena Gupta’s advice to her younger self in retrospect
Akash Bhatnagar (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 8, 2020)

Ever since the release of Junglee Pictures’ Badhaai Ho in 2018, Neena Gupta has made a triumphant return to show business. She is now being flooded with interesting roles, like that of Arjun Kapoor’s grandmother in a yet-untitled cross border love story in which she is separated from the man she loves, John Abraham, because of the Partition. Recently, she appeared on Neha Dhupia’s chat show No Filter Neha and when asked what advice she would give to her younger self today, the veteran actress shot back, saying, “If you want to get more and better roles, become a star, then modesty is not the best policy. You cannot be shy, you have to go out, call up people, which I never did, and focus more on work and not on men.”

Having been a part of the industry for around 38 years, and coming from a time of minimal publicity, Neena finds the current scenario exasperating. “They keep 10 people for one task. Sometimes they don’t know much about the field, but still try to teach me acting, giving me suggestions on how to do a scene. Kyun bhai? Mujhe kyun le rahe ho?” she vents on No Filter Neha.

At 61, the actress’s Insta game is strong, but, she admits, daughter Masaba does the policing if she errs. “I immediately get a message from her saying, ‘Mom, you’ve done it wrong’, and I set it right,” she admits candidly.