Bollywood actor Neena Gupta charmed audiences at the SIBF on Friday night. Kamal Kassim/Gulf Today

Raghib Hassan, Staff Reporter

One of the most versatile actors of her generation, Neena Gupta interacted with her audience at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) on Friday evening. She was here to talk about her autobiography “Sach Kahun Toh (If I Tell the Truth): An Autobiography,” which chronicles her extraordinary personal and professional journey. She is brutally honest in her book. The two-time National Award winning actor’s filmography takes us through four decades of her journey starting from “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro” (1983), “Khalnayak” (1992) and “Woh Chokri” (1993) to “Mulk” and “Badhaai ho” (2018).

She also regaled her fans with her acting prowess in the OTT released highly popular web series “Panchayat.” That’s the reason a sea of people waited patiently to listen to the star and meet her at the Expo Centre. She entertained her audience in her imitable style by churning out one-liners. She spoke her heart out. Like her book, she is brutally blunt and free flowing. She was very candid about her journey, life experiences, her times with Vivian Richards and her regrets.

Despite having received National Awards, Bollywood failed to recognise her talents and she never got what she deserved at the peak of her career. Despite being a product of India’s prestigious National School Of Drama (NSD) whose alumni include Naseeruddin Shah, Satish Kaushik, Anupan Kher, Pankaj Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpai and Sanjay Mishra, she had to wait for almost four decades to become a sought-after actor. At 60, after the unprecedented success of “Badhai Ho” (2018) , Neena feels she has arrived. She is feeling confident about herself.

She said, “If Badhai Ho would not have happened then I would have been doing smaller roles even now.” Raw deal from the mediaRecalling her younger days she said, “I have always been very honest. I was honest about everything in life, but the press treated me badly. I would talk to the media people as my friends but they made me somebody else and they portrayed me a different person which I was not. And this has also hampered my career.” A public figure has to be very careful, and I was not, she lamented. “People feel I have lived my life the way I wanted to live, but this is not true.

  Neena poses with her fans.

I simply made the most of what I had or whatever God had given me. Challenges of life have not made me a bitter person. Despite all the ups and downs, I remained cheerful, positive and honest.” “I always had this notion that I am from the National School of Drama (NSD), and the day I would land in Mumbai, I would become a star. But this did not happen.” While I was trying to find my feet in Bollywood, I got a small role in a film “Saath Saath.”

Though my character was well received and it was hugely popular but it derailed my career. I never stopped regretting that mistake.” She shared, “I was told by veteran actor Girish Karnad once that I won’t be getting the lead female role in my entire life and his words turned out to be so true.” She also did a cameo in “Khalnayak” and that became a huge hit. Recalling her experience she said, “I told Subhash Ghai that I am an actor not a dancer and I did not want to do that song and dance scene but Ghai insisted on me doing it.” She added, “I had received many similar offers of a dancer but I refused.

“In fact, many people in small towns of India still remember me for that scene only.” When asked how the idea of a book came about, she said, “It was Covid time, and I had a lot of spare time. None of my family members are alive now. Had my father been alive, he would not have allowed it to be published.” “I tried to write a book 20 or 30 years back, but it did not happen for some reason,” she apprised. Talking about her films she remarked, “There were only films during my time, there were no OTT platforms unlike today’s times. We had theatre but it had no money, so I needed money to survive. I did films for money, I did not have money.

Beggars cannot be choosers.” Sharing a piece of advice with young girls, she said, “Education is very important. I could go through difficult times in my life only because I was educated. Education turned out to be very useful for me. “ She did her MPhil in the Sankrit language, and was thinking of doing a doctorate in the same subject before she was caught by the acting bug. She added, “Telling the truth is a dangerous thing. You have to be very careful.

Truth is not an easy thing to deal with. Even truth can turn your friends into foes so you have to learn to be diplomatic. “ Talking about today’s generation of actors, she said, “They are very confident and they conduct themselves very confidently in public. Even I see people with average talent exhibiting confidence and I feel good about them.” She added, “I always lacked confidence. I did not have high self-esteem, even today I think about it and talk to my daughter Masaba Gupta about this issue.”

Masaba is a celebrated Indian fashion designer and she has done a series for Netflix, “Masaba Masaba.” Talking about that Neena said, “She is a great actor and I was impressed to see her acting skills in the movie.” When asked why she dissuaded her from joining films, she bluntly said, “To succeed in Bollywood, you need a certain type of skin, a certain type of look and Masaba does not fit into that at all.”