In her recollection, Neena Gupta shared that during her college days, she often found herself ‘cast in roles of men and portraying male house helps in theatrical productions.’
At the recently-concluded Prithvi Festival, Neena Gupta spoke about her National School of Drama (NSD) days, her initial years as an actor as well as her parents’ reaction to her wanting to join films. As per a report on ETimes, Neena said during a session at the festival that her mother ‘preferred only English cinema’.
Neena Gupta on joining films
Neena Gupta said, “My mother looked down upon Hindi films and preferred only English cinema. However, once I saw myself on the big screen in Aadharshila (1982), I thought, ‘Mujhe yahi karna hai.’ Ussi samay main tabaah ho gayi (I want to do only this. That is how I was ruined).”
Neena reveals she was ‘mostly cast in male roles’
Originally, Neena Gupta said she planned to stick to the theatre, recalling, “In college, I was mostly cast in male roles and as male house helps in plays because I was taller than than the other girls. I was too shy to ask the director for the main part. I would rehearse the lines of the heroine at home and felt that I performed better than the heroines. My first ever significant act in a play was Aadhe Adhoore.”
A South Indian movie is on Neena Gupta’s Wishlist
Earlier this year, Neena Gupta told news agency PTI in an interview that she believes she is in the best phase of her career, and said there is a never-ending desire to play exciting roles.
The actor not only wished to do an action film, and a love story, but also work in a South Indian movie. On her wishlist is filmmaker Mani Ratnam.
“I want to do action, love story, horror, and a whole lot of things as yet. I am feeling very lucky as I am working with a lot of people with whom I never thought I would work with. But I would like to do some south films, like work with Mani Ratnam and others because it is totally different and I would love to do that,” Neena had said.
Neena’s upcoming works
This year, the veteran actor was seen in Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway and Vishal Bhardwaj’s web series Charlie Chopra and The Mystery Of Solang Valley, as well as R Balki’s short in Lust Stories 2. Neena has Anurag Basu’s Metro In Dino as one of her upcoming projects.
Disclaimer: Except the headline and synopsis, this story has been taken from the HT News Service.