Neena Gupta Gets Even More Unfiltered Talking To Neha Dhupia On Jiosaavn #nofilterneha Season 5 Part 2

Compiled by Jyothi Venkatesh

On the one quality that she feels that Masaba should and should not take from her

Masaba is very, very important thing she has, which I’m very happy she has, she can laugh at herself. Very important. And, I can do the same. I can be in great this thing and we will talk to the wall ki ‘Bewakoof ladki, kya kar rahi hai tu’, you know, it’s like that. So, Masaba can, she’s got this from me. She can laugh at herself. One bad thing she’s got from me is taking immediate decisions, impulsive. But, the main, most interesting thing is that she realizes that she has that.

On her love story at 50!

We met in the plane. He was coming from London, I was coming from London to Bombay. He’s based in Delhi but he was coming to Bombay for some work. And, just imagine, that is why I believe so much in destiny and fate. I was in business class – Air India, upstairs. He was somewhere behind, but, one lady wanted him to change his seat and that’s how he came and sat besides me. My life would have been so different. He keeps telling me all the time you are the one, you are the one, ab main ladti nahi hoon uske bare mein. He says ki tune mujhe fasaya. Pehle main ladti thi, nahi maine kahan fasaya, tumne aisa kiya tumne aise kiya. Ab main ladti nahi, bola ha fasaya. Tum dukhi ho toh jao, tum sukhi ho toh raho.

On when she never gets the roles she auditions for, and what she has to say to people who want to cast her

Actually, most of my auditions, main fail ho jati hoon. Kabhi nahi milta mujhe. Badhai Ho mein audition nahi diya tha. Shubh Mangal mein audition nahi diya tha. Bahut si filmon ka, aur specially the foreign productions, I never get in, never ever get in. I don’t know why. The Last Color – uska audition nahi diya tha. Ab kya bolu, ab jisko jo karna hai karega, because abhi mera audition dekho acting toh dekh liya aapne, shakal roz dekhte rehte ho Instagram mein, aur kya dekhna hai?

When her mother was against her acting and wanted her to be an IAS officer

Ya, ya. They were very much against. My mother used to look down upon Hindi cinema. She used to only watch English movies in the festivals and all. They were very shocked because my mother wanted me to do IAS so ya, she was very much against. But then, I said no I have to go, I have to go.

On her advice to Masaba into getting into Btown and how she’s her best & worst critic

So, we have a big joke about it, these days, me & Masaba. Obviously, because Masaba is surrounded by all my friends who are connected to Film industry and all so, because you see the glamour na so she also wanted to go into acting. So, I said dekh, tereko main yeh nahi keh rahi ki tu acting shayad achi kar paye, nahi kar paye but because you’re face is not a very traditional Indian face, you will not get all the heroines parts, all the main parts. Yeh tere ko hoga, ya toh phir tere ko karna hai toh you go abroad and you know struggle there and find some work there. Finally she understood, I was very scared that she will say no, no. But, she understood and she went into a different direction. So now, this new series in which she’s acting it’s about her. And, when I saw the edit, I am her best critic and her worst critic. I mean, I toh criticize her all the time which is very bad thing and she was like this when I went to see ha what will mom say and I was so impressed by her acting. So, abhi hum jo karte hai, Masaba and me ke how much I told her no, no, no and then whatever has to happen has happened.

On sharing screen space with Masaba for the show ‘Masaba Masaba’

I was a little hesitant, I said I don’t know, we both will be conscious doing a scene together but she was so good. She was so professional. Our scenes went off so well. It is not the real real thing, it’s a little scripted thing but it is so real like, there’s a scene you’ll see in the trailer that when you see the scene, it’s so real between the daughter and her mother. So, it is not that this had happened in our lives, it’s not necessary but it is very real.

On giving acting tips to her daughter, Masaba!

Very little. I did, but, very little. Maybe twice. Initially, when we were doing the readings, I told her to slow down her pace in the reading and one or twice more, I gave her a little thing while she was acting. Ya, she took it. She changed immediately. I thought darte d arte yeh bolegi ki Mom, I know.

How Badhaai Ho was a game-changer for her

Badhaai Ho changed everything. It changed my life because people couldn’t imagine me because meri image banayi thi media ne kuch aur, toh jaisi image hoti hai wiase hi aapko acting assignment milte haina, yeh actor ko koi nahi samajhta. So, Badhaai Ho just changed my life, changed my image, changed everything. Now I make calls with great confidence. I do, I still. Day before yesterday, I sent a message to a director that I heard you are making a film, is there any role for me? Now, I do. I have confidence now to do. Earlier, I could never do. But, Badhaai Ho has like, I tell Amit Sharma, who’s the director, I said, aap jo bologe na, main aapke joote saaf karungi, kuch bhi karungi aapke liye because he’s, he has changed my life. Woh bechara Neena Ma’am, Neena Ma’am karta hai aur main usko bolti hoon ki main kuch bhi karungi. I have so much gratitude and so much love for him. Because, also, I also love the film. It’s not that film hit ho gayi, no. I think, it’s one of the best films I have ever done and seen.

What she has to say about sharing any good news just like the concept of Badhaai Ho

Aree nahi yaar. Ab Masaba ke bache paida hone ka time aa raha hai main kahan se bacha paida karu.

Did she anticipate the film ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’ to become such a hit?

No, no, not at all. You know it was very gareebi mein bani hui film. There was no money. I used to take a auto rickshaw to go to the shoot, take my own food because I did not have a conveyance and NFDC ki film thi. There was very little budget. We had so much fun in the film. I was so new, I was getting to work with such good actors, first film and all. When I see, we never expected this to become like this.

Is there a remake to ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro’?

They were planning to make ‘Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro 2’. I read the script also. It was a big, huge script and they were saying we will come back to you for the dates par who fizzle out ho gaya aur hua hi nahi. Kaafi saal pehle ki baat hai.

Recasting & Casting Game in 2020

Naseeruddin Shah in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro – Hrithik Roshan

Gajraj Rao in Badhaai Ho – Hrithik Roshan

Amar Akbar Anthony as three women – Three women! – Alia, Kareena, maybe Vidya Balan

Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff in Ram Lakhan – Jackie Shroff can still do it. For Anil Kapoor in Ram Lakhan, acha, I can’t say Hrithik again na? Uh, Ayushmann

Sonam Kapoor in Veere Di Wedding - Anushka