NEENA GUPTA: NOT RELIEVED EVEN AFTER VACCINATION

Despite taking both doses of Covid-19 vaccine, Neena Gupta is not giving in to complacency, as she is still stressed about the virus being out there

As the second wave of the pandemic eases its grip with Covid-19 cases on a decline, people are heaving a sigh of relief. However, actor Neena Gupta is still anxious as she feels that people should not let their guard down just yet. Currently in Mukteshwar, Uttarakhand, with her husband Vivek Mehra, she says that even after getting vaccinated, she is being very cautious.

“I keep hearing that people got Covid-19 even after vaccination, and I remind myself that even if I get it, it will be a milder infection. I tell myself to be positive. But when I go out and even for walks, I wear my masks at all times. I’m not so relieved even after the two vaccine doses,” the Mulk and Badhaai Ho (both 2018) actor shares. Gupta, 66, tells us that the last couple of months have not been that easy for her, and she even fell sick due to the stress.

“I started having stomach issues. It was very troublesome. I called my doctor and he asked me if I was tensed, because stress affects your digestive system. And I said I wasn’t, because everything is okay here...,” she shares, quick to confess, “But then I realised that I have been sad. As I read and saw things, the fear that I might get the virus or that someone close to me can die, is still there. That stress continues.”

That said, the National Film Award winner is trying her best by staying occupied to keep bad thoughts at bay. “I cook a lot these days, so my mind is occupied. I don’t sit idle for a second so that I don’t [get the time to] think of the crisis. There’s a lot of stress we all have right now, but we have to deal with it and we have to be very careful,” she adds.

Another thing that’s keeping Gupta positive and adding to her happiness, is the response to her latest web film, Sardar Ka Grandson, and Gupta is lapping all the appreciation up.

“It was a very challenging role for me to play and I’m happy that people are appreciating it. Initially, when I was told I have to play a 90-year-old woman, I said no to the makers. I said I don’t want to play a nonagenarian right now. But when I heard the script, I got very excited, and I was like, ‘I want to shoot now’. It was a very beautiful script and my role is so nice, so there were no second thoughts,” says the actor, who co-stars with Arjun Kapoor in the film.