Didn’t think I’d last this long in films, says Neha
How many of us know that actor Neha Dhupia started her career with a Japanese film? So technically, it has been 20 years for her as an actor! “Interesting” is how she describes the experience so far.
“The fact that I’ve lasted this long! I’ve worked every day of my life. Did I think I was going to survive and last this long? Not at all. I was in the midst of a decision, whether I should write my IAS papers or not 20 years ago, or go for Miss India. I went in for the latter, thinking it will be a short stint and I’ll come back in three months. I packed my suitcase for two months, and stayed on for 20 years,” the 40-year-old tells us.
Singh Is Kinng (2008), Phas Gaye Re Obama (2010) and Tumhari Sulu (2017) are a few of the films Dhupia starred in. As someone who didn’t know anyone in the industry, was it tough? “You know that’s the fun of it,” she quips, adding, “That’s what my learning has been, no matter how tough the situation was… whatever I was doing, I was figuring it out on my own.”
So, how do things function in Bollywood, according to her? If you have talent, is that enough? “Acting is a creative art. It’s not like being a doctor, you have to do a double MBBS, hypothetically speaking. Acting doesn’t have a huge measure, ki iss exam mein yeh grade chahiye, only then you get to act. You can have arguments, but all I can do is speak for myself, not anybody else’s journey, craft or struggle that I don’t know enough about,” says Dhupia. sional perspective, but also because of the psychological and spiritual impact it can have on children,” she says.
The lockdown was undoubtedly a hard time for many, but Anoushka confesses that it taught her how to manage her career and personal life. “I was quite busy in the lockdown, because of my two kids,” she laughs, adding, “Parenting was my primary experience during this lockdown. How to fit my artistry around my children (Zubin and Mohan Shankar Wright), instead of it being the other way around. It was challenging, but equally rewarding, too.”
The lockdown also made her realise the importance of technology. “I keep thinking if it would have happened 30 years back, our experience would have been totally different. It would have been incredibly difficult to even connect with each other, let alone think of the ability to do virtual
PIt’s easier for people who come from families that are already established in music.
ANOUSHKA SHANKAR, Sitarist
concerts and create music. Things are going to change going forward, and will happen more remotely. That’ll impact creativity as well,” says Anoushka, daughter of late sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar.
However, the most frustrating part of her work is also related to the Internet. “I miss those days where we just focused on work without having to blast it on social media. I have a very mixed relationship with it. It definitely has an impact on you as a person. But the flip side to it is that we get a chance to make a relationship with our fans,” she says, adding that her “love-hate relationship with social media will continue”.