Neena Gupta – the veteran actress who’s been a familiar face in the world of television and movies since the early 90’s, including her iconic portrayal in the daily soap – ‘Saans’, is back with a stellar big-screen role that has had everyone talking.
In the Amit Ravindernath Sharma directed upcoming flick ‘Badhai Ho’, the 59 year old actress plays a stereotype breaking Indian mother, who gets pregnant at an “unconventional” age in her life. The light-hearted comedy-drama, which also stars Ayushmann Khurrana, revolves around the ageist views of our society – especially when it comes to the subjects of love, sex and starting out a family.
But Neena’s own journey in her personal life has also been filled with quite a number of up’s and down’s.
The seasoned star, who’s being actively interviewed for the new project, was quizzed about her life as a single mother – and she without hesitation, layed her heart out.
“My journey was very tough. I had no money. Money is the most important thing, I have realised in this world. I didn’t have a husband and relatives. So it was really tough, but the joy Masaba gave me… The joy of motherhood… She was a very good child she did not trouble me much,” Hindustan Times quoted her as saying.
Neena was in a relationship with West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards back in the 80’s, with whom she had her only daughter – Masaba Gupta. Neena then raised her child on her own throughout her journey in showbiz, only recently tying the knot with New Delhi-based chartered accountant Vivek Mehra in the year 2008, when Masaba was already 20.
“I used to get small and useless roles in movies. Then I thought I should do just TV and today the fan following I have is because of working on television,” Neena is quoted saying by Hindustan Times. “Earlier in these subjects, there were no big roles. We used to get small character roles. Now films are being made on solid and substantial roles.”
Badhai Ho – which has been co-produced by Vineet Jain, was released on the 18th of October.
Like most Ayushmann Khurrana ‘hatke’ movies in the recent past, the movie is doing remarkably well in the box office – smoothly coming out as one of the biggest hits of the year.
Congratulations to Neena and the rest of the ‘Badhai Ho’ team!