Neena Gupta is one of the most phenomenal actresses that Bollywood has ever seen. She recently earned accolades for her role in Bollywood film Badhaai Ho and even got honoured with various awards. Recently, while talking to Rajeev Masand about the second innings in her Bollywood career as well as her personal life, the actress revealed that she felt she was selfish while raising daughter Masaba Gupta.
The actress went candid about her status as an unwed mother and recalled the advice she gave daughter Masaba at the start of her career and getting work in Bollywood. On raising Masaba as a single-unwed-mother, she said, “I feel it was a very selfish act on my part. Some of my friends told me it won’t be fair on part of the child, but kaun sunnta hai uss waqat, blind hotey hain (who listens at that age, people are blind). I also feel sad because she was lonely. I wish I had another child but circumstances weren’t like that).”
While Neena is proud that she handled everything on her own, she doesn’t advise youngsters to follow her suit. Neena said: “Yes, very hard. Nothing much has changed. You and I are the minority in this country. The majority is the same. What has changed? This (the decision to be an unwed mother) also people should not do what I done. It is very tough and it is not fair on the child.”
Neena also spoke about the advice she gave Masaba at the start of latter’s career. She discouraged her from taking up acting. Neena said: “I told her ‘If you want to be an actor then you go abroad. Jis tarah tumhara shakal hai, body hai, tumhe yahan Indian milieu mein bahot kam role milenge (The way you look, the way you body is, you will get very few roles in the Indian milieu) even if you become a good actor. So tumko woh heroine nahin milegi. Toh Hema Malini nahin banoge, Alia Bhatt nahin banoge (You will never become a heroine, you will never become Hema Malini, you will never become an Alia Bhatt)’.”
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