Neena Gupta says she used to be jealous of Shabana Azmi: ‘I was thrown out of projects… she would get good roles’

Neena Gupta’s life is nothing less than a blockbuster film. It is like one of those entertainers that has all the rasas, and everything ends on satisfactory note. From choosing a tough profession to becoming a single mother and making a comeback as an actor in her late 50s, Neena Gupta surfed through all the challenges that life threw at her. In fact, she lived it all with elan and grace.
The struggle for the actor first started when she took a different career path than what her parents had decided for her. “My mother didn’t want me to become an actor. She used to look down upon it,” she told in an exclusive interview. Adding that her parents wanted her to be an IAS officer, Neena Gupta said that they were against the whole idea of her shifting to Mumbai and trying her luck in movies. However, she ended up in the National School of Drama, and the rest is hory.
While she spilt beans on her personal life in her memoir Sach Kahun Toh, which released last year, we tried to dive into her initial years of being an actor. The actor admitted that initially, she was “jealous of Shabana Azmi.” She said that Shabana and many others would be offered the cream of scripts. They would often replace Neena Gupta in projects.

This throwback photo features Neena Gupta with Shabana Azmi. (Photo: Express Archive)
“Long time back, I used to be jealous of Shaban Azmi because she used to get all the nice parts. There were many other actresses also. Sometimes I was told that we are doing this role but was thrown out from it,” Neena revealed, adding that now she is “much calmer because I am getting good parts to play.”
Now, she agrees that her competition is no one but herself. “Now, my competition is with myself that I should not do anything wrong, should concentrate and do my work more professionally,” she said.

As the conversation continued, we asked Neena Gupta about how she faced difficult times and if she has someone she looks up to as an inspiration. In response, Neena replied, “I think it is me.”
The actor says she is her own inspiration. “I have this thing that I can be a big coward sometimes when things don’t happen the way I want them. But then I reach a point where I tell myself, ‘Let that go and move on.’ I think God has given me the strength that I can go through very very bad times and come back. Everybody has problems in their lives. Some people cannot move on. They succumb. I had this thing, I don’t know from where I got, genes or god’s grace or whatever, that I could fall and get up.”
Neena Gupta with ba Masaba. (Photo: Express Archive)
So, does Masaba share this quality with her? “Masaba is better than me. She is at it. Even in her business, when it was not doing well during the Covid-19 times, I would tell her to ‘let it be,’ but she would say – no. She doesn’t let go. She had problems but she was at it. She kept trying, and never gave up. She is very good that way.”
Interestingly, 2020 saw Masaba making her acting debut with Netflix’s Masaba Masaba. The series, which also stars Neena Gupta, is returning for its second season. Talking about Masaba as an actor, Neena Gupta said, “In the first season, she was nervous initially. I told her to relax, concentrate, len to the lines, len to the other actor and mean the lines. She did fine. She was very good. Mere genes aaye hai lagta hai.”

On the work front, apart from Masaba Masaba season 2, Neena Gupta is looking forward to the release of Panchayat 2. In the series, which will stream on Amazon Prime Video from May 20 onwards, Neena Gupta plays the role of Manju Devi.
A young Neena Gupta posed for a picture. (Photo: Express Archive)
Talking about it, the 62-year-old said, “I did not expect the first season to do so well. It did well not only in small towns and villages but also in big towns and metros. It was received well all kinds of people. Not just Hindi speaking but others too. So, everybody loved it, which we were not expecting. We knew that we did good work but the reactions have been overwhelming.”

The upcoming season will see Sunita Rajwar joining the cast as Kranti Devi. Calling her a “very good friend in real life,” Neena Gupta praised the casting of Panchayat 2. “Every actor in Panchayat is very good, irrespective of their screen time. And even the script is good. So, the battle is half won,” Neena concluded.