Neena Gupta Gets Even More Unfiltered Talking To Neha Dhupia On Jiosaavn #Nofilterneha Season 5

Compiled by Jyothi Venkatesh

On time she spent during this lockdown

To tell you frankly, this has been the best four and a half months in my life. Beautiful place, lovely house, my own house so comfortable, staff, driver, no restriction, sit out, walk out because it’s a gated thing and everybody inside is already quarantined for 4 months. So we could meet them, we could eat with them, I could walk with them, so I found a new family and this is the first time, me and my husband stayed together for like 4 months. Otherwise, he lives in Delhi, I live in Bombay. So, this was the first time I enjoyed being with somebody in the same house kind of thing, although he was busy, I was busy. So this has been the most amazing time of my life and I’m coming back here, I have to get used to it, it’ll take me sometime but it was the most beautiful time.

On the teething problems with her husband this lockdown

Majorly, majorly (laughs). I’ve learned sign language because he is always busy on his conference calls. The adjustment took some time but it was very interesting that I let him be, he kind of tried to let me be but he had no alternative. In any case he didn’t have time to interfere in my life so it was fine but whenever he got time then he interfered which I decided I will not interfere. It was very interesting, it was very calming

On her Insta game, which  is on a roll!

Dekho kai baar na I don’t post for a longer period of times. I post whenever something hits me, whenever I see something happening really. It is happening with me or around me, I want to post. Like the sign language, I posted because I was laughing at it because I was doing it every day. So everything I post, like I got the sweaters made from the local girls, so I put that. So it is all genuine and I don’t post for the sake of posting. I post because I want to say something and what I’m saying is actually the truth which has happened to me and which is genuine and I think that’s why maybe people like it. Because like I say such things which we all women go through, so suddenly if my husband says something to me like that and I say ‘Shit aare yaar, yeh aise kyu bol raha he. Accha mein batati hu. Main sabko bata dungi’. It is like that.

On what she learnt about Instagram from Masaba

No, the matter I do, I don’t consult. Sometimes, initially even now I make a mistake of posting like I will post something wrong. I get a message from Masaba immediately, ‘Mom, you’ve done it wrong’, then I tell her to set it right. Then she sets it right.

On her script about housewives

So, once I had written a script, I don’t why I never made it. I had written a short film ka script that mahina ka end aata he toh sabko salary baat te he, this woman she made a little khidki type of a thing, jese ticket lene jate he na aisa khidki. Sare bills ekhatte kiye hue he usne aur unn bills mein kuch bills bhi banaye he ki yeh bacche ka homework karaya, itte paise, uska yeh kiya. Sabji wala se sabji mein mene 100 rupee ka karaye, uska muche discount. Aase karke pura usne bola yeh mera mahine ka bill he, apne husband ko bill diya. That is what I wanted to make once.

On breaking stereotypes and how things have changed

It’s changed very recently, like past 2 years, only. For everyone, there are women, actresses, my age group are also getting some very interesting work. Otherwise it was very bad, after 40 also it was bad. There was nothing. And right now I feel that everybody, not just me is getting something, it’s not like the younger people obviously. It is started a little bit and I have even this lockdown, 2-3 very good scripts I have read, very nice scripts. I have said yes to 2-3 things, I have said yes to but I’m not supposed to talk about it.

On the PR scenario now and before

Ya, it is very irritating to me because you see this whole corporate business na, mereko samaj mein nahi aata. Ek kaam ke lia 10 aadmi rakhte he. Ab 10 aadmi ko jab they are paying salary, so 10 aadmiyo ko kuch na kuch toh kehna padega. Aur voh log jinko pata hi nahi he uss kam ke bara mein, jo kisi dusre chez se hokar aaye he, matlab unka talent kuch dusra he. Kahin log toh mujhe choti choti jo films hoti he, usme mujhe acting bhi sikhate he. Voh bolte he ki accha suno, isko na thoda sa esa kar dena, thoda iss line ko emote jada kar dena. Kyu bhai? Mujhe kyu le rahe ho?

On feeling out of place on a film set

Abhi abhi toh kya hua, I was doing Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan and my first day shoot and I had this dialogue and I was saying realistically and talking to like that. So our director Hitesh, he called me aside and he said, ‘No, iska surr itna ocha hona chahiye. Oonche se shuru karna chahiye’. Toh mene kaha but why? Then he explained me the reason, I understood the reason because I am talking to somebody who is in a place on phone jaha bohot shorr he. Toh shorr wali jagah agar app bhi bolenge toh ooncha bolenge na, which I understood the logic. Jaisa unhone bola mene kara aur mein hotel wapas gayi and I said, ‘shit yaar, yeh level pe meko kaam karayenge, yeh level pe’. I understood the whole film, so I read the script again, I understood that this film is going to be like this, it is not Badhaai Ho, you know what I mean. So I understood because I trusted the director and I understood his logic. Even if I had not understood, like there was a series called ‘Srimaan Srimati’, bohot pehle Archana Puran Singh was pregnant, so they took me for some time. Usme bhi director ne mujhe utna upar se shuru karwaya. It was that kind of comedy. Meko bohot taklif hoti thi but I understood ki bhaiya yeh comedy aise hi karni he. Aise nahi phasi ki bohot bura director, koi logic nahi he aur mujhe karna pade. Ha phasi hu ek do baar shuru shuru mein when I had to do roles which had no beginning, no middle, nothing, which had no logic, which had no sense. I have done many of those but then you needed money so it was okay.

On her advice to her younger self!

If you want to get better roles, more roles, you want to become a star, heroine, whatever is in your head, modesty is not a good policy. You cannot be shy. You have to go, call up people, they get irritated, which I never did and focus on work, not on men - two important things.

On her advice to Neena Gupta 2020

2020, ya, ek saal toh barbaad ho gaya humara, now I’m getting work so every day is important for me. So, I tell myself – very important to look after your health because you want to do more work. That’s the most important thing. And, don’t let even one moment of your day go waste, kuch karo, padho, kuch suno, baithna nahi, kuch na kuch karo. Apne kapde theek karo, matlab jo bhi karlo. Ek minute bhi waste nahi karna – Two things.

On What she has passed onto Masaba!

I think, they see you and they learn. There are certain things which are genetic like I know what she’s got from me, what she’s got from her father, what she’s got from my father. So, I think it’s all a combination. One day, I was, one day, she was shouting at me so I said ‘Don’t shout’, she said I’ve learnt from you only. So, it’s like, because she’s seen me shouting at my dad also once or twice when he was living with me. They learn 40% from you and your behavior and 60% is genetics, DNA.