Why is it expected that only a mother should take care of her child? What about the father? This is what actor Neha Dhupia wants to know. She and her husband, actor Angad Bedi, are parents to two children: Meher, three, and Guriq, one. And she finds it “problematic” when certain people think that it is only her duty to take care of the kids.

“A significant shift in mindset is required. When my daughter was born, my husband and I were both working. When everyone saw him, they asked, ‘What are you wearing and expecting this evening?’ And when they would look at me, they’d ask, ‘Where is the baby? Who is watching over her?’ What happens is that society blows it out of proportion when the father does it [takes care of the child],” says the 42-year-old, who recently appeared in the short film Good Morning, wherein she is seen playing a mum who is juggling her personal and professional life. 

However, she is relieved that such questions do not arise in her relationship as Bedi shares equal parenting responsibilities. “We don’t even have these conversations that revolve around equal parenting because we are on the same page,” says Dhupia, adding, “When I was coming for this interview, Guriq made a face, so I signalled to Angad, ‘You need to take over’. And it was as if he had his autopilot mode on as he took over.”

In some ways, Neha Dhupia feels that 'Good Morning' mirrors her life. The Jyoti Kapur Das-directed short film revolves around Anagha, a mother of two, who juggles her personal life with a high-pressure job.

“When I shot this film, I had just given birth [to son Guriq]. As a mom, sometimes, there is guilt about going to work. Becoming a mother makes you strong, but your kids become your weakness. That’s the emotion I took from my life to Anagha’s,” says Dhupia, who leads the Amazon Mini TV offering.

The on-screen depiction of working mothers is crucial, especially since women are unfortunately sidelined in professional spaces after they embrace motherhood. Dhupia says that mothers will identify with the protagonist.

“We were mindful that when we show her in the workplace, she is powerful. Women have to strive harder to own their space. I worked through both my pregnancies. It’s important to underline and tell people that having a baby is our strength, not our weakness.”

Does she feel the film industry is empathetic to working mothers? “Some sets are accommodating. I told Guneet [Monga, producer] and Jyoti that my son is young, and I wouldn’t be able to come in for long hours. They were welcoming of my son. I had made a cot in my van. I was feeding him in between shots. Every three hours, I could go see him. Moving forward, I hope more makers are sensitive to working mothers.”

For the first time, Neha Dhupia broke her rule recently and introduced her kids — Mehr (3) and Guriq (nine months old) — to the public. But the actor indicated that it (keeping her kids in the public glare) wasn’t a permanent thing. To celebrate 20 years of being crowned at a beauty pageant, Dhupia was accompanied by her kids and husband, actor Angad Bedi, on stage. “I think it is still one glimpse and go. I am in a phase where I want to keep them under wraps and protect them. It was just one special moment on stage, which was really important to me. I would have never thought that I would be recrowned after 20 years,” she says.

The 41-year-old adds that she wanted her children to be a part of her special day. “I thought to myself that many years from now, there might come a day when they would ask me, ‘What were we doing? Wasn’t it special for us?’ It was a mixed feeling,” shares the Sanak (2021) actor, adding, “I did break my own rule. But I think that this occasion was way too special.”

However, Dhupia admits that she was nervous about “exposing” her children: “I have complete respect for people who do. But I will go back to my notorious ways of hiding their faces. It was just a moment of joy, and not an indulgence or a promise that they will forever be on social media.”

Dhupia embarked on a journey in the Hindi film industry in 2003 with Qayamat: City Under Threat. She’s done films like Chup Chup Ke (2006), Shootout At Lokhandwala (2007), Tumhari Sulu (2017), Helicopter Eela (2018) and A Thursday, among others, in the last 20 years. Today, she juggles multiple roles in reel and real life, from being an actor and a producer, to a wife and mother.

Talking about her two-decade-long journey in the entertainment industry, Dhupia says, “If I look back at the entire journey, it has been great. I have paved my own path and place. There have been ups and downs. I made some new friends and lost touch with a few. It is impossible for me to sum up the past 20 years, but I can say it has been an adventure,” ends the actor.

For the past three months, fans have been speculating on the name of actors Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi’s son. And she has finally let the cat out of the bag exclusively for us, revealing that they call him Guriq Singh Dhupia Bedi. “We are happy and extremely proud that we attached both our surnames to our son and daughter’s (Mehr) names. There you go! Now you know what we call him,” Dhupia tells us. 

Opening up about the meaning of the name, she explains, “Guriq means one with God, one from God, and saviour of the world. It is a different name, and we love it. Even the spelling is beautiful and unusual. The credit for the name goes to the mother [me], and the credit for the spelling goes to the father [Angad].” Guriq is the couple’s second child, born in October last year.

“We are glad that we zeroed in on Guriq, because we love the sound of it. He (her son) also reacts beautifully to the name. He is just three months old, and now he recognises sounds,” shares the 41-year-old actor. 

For the parents, he might be Guriq, but for Mehr, he is her “Koala brother”. “Before the delivery, when we were preparing Mehr that she would soon have a baby sister or a baby brother, she suddenly started calling the baby Koala. Even now, she calls him that. We love it because she stuck by the original, and we came up with the name much later,” Dhupia ends with a laugh.