‘I used to think my parents never had sex’
Asocial media post last year by actor Neena Gupta, who let the world know that she still had that hunger for good work, made the film world again take notice of this National Awardwinning veteran. Since then, she has been a part of Veere Di Wedding, Mulk, and now, Badhaai Ho, releasing this week. The film sees her play an older woman — with two adult children — getting pregnant. Neena says that she didn’t take even a moment to say yes to this challenging role.
“The script was so nice that I didn’t think for even a second about playing a pregnant woman at my age,” says the actor. “It’s very rare that you get such fantastic scripts. I’m so thankful to my director for this opportunity. Only if you get the opportunity, can you show what you’re capable of. For senior actors, especially men, good roles were always written; but for women, it’s definitely changing. This is a very good time for actors and for directors, as producers are willing to invest in different kinds of movies,” she says.
Neena admits that she was surprised that this role came to her. “They could have taken anybody. It’s a big film; they could have paid any amount of money. I used to be so scared even after I signed the film because I was worried they might just take someone better,” she says candidly.
The film shows an older couple having a baby, and Neena, recalling her own days while growing up, says that she never saw her parents be openly romantic or even affectionate with each other. “I used to think that my parents never had sex,” she says, amused. “I had never seen them sleep together alone in the same room also, because all of us kids used to sleep together. For us, sex was dirty and for us mummy couldn’t do anything dirty. That was our conditioning. This is what I used to think of sex when I was younger. But my equation with (daughter) Masaba is different, because I was able to be more open with her. We’re very frank with each other, but we also don’t cross the line,” adds Neena.