Neena Gupta

Neena Gupta (born June 4, 1959) is an Indian actress and television director who works in Hindi films and television along with few Malayalam films. She has received several awards including two National Film Awards, a Filmfare Award and two Filmfare OTT Awards.

Known for her work in both art-house and commercial films, she lost the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a young widow in Woh Chokri (1994). In 2018, she saw career resurgence for starring as a middle-aged pregnant woman in the comedy-drama Badhaai Ho, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics) and received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

Gupta's television appearances include a leading role in the drama series Saans (1999) and as the host of the Indian version of the television quiz show The Weakest Link, named Kamzor Kadii Kaun. In June 2021, publisher Penguin Random House India released her autobiography Sach Kahun Toh.

Early life and education
Neena Gupta was born in Calcutta, India to R. N. Gupta, a LL.B.-graduate and an officer in the State Trading Corporation of India, and Shakuntala Devi Gupta (née Kinra) a former teacher with double masters degrees in Sanskrit and political science.

She grew up in the Karol Bagh area of New Delhi, doing her elementary schooling at the Bal Bharti School and secondary schooling at Vidya Bhawan. She went on to get her Bachelor of Arts from Janki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University and her Master of Arts in Sanskrit from Delhi University. She also earned an MPhil from the same university for her thesis on 'Stage Techniques in Sanskrit Drama: Theory and Practice'. Midway through her PhD in Sanskrit, she gave up her research due to difference of opinion between her guide and her.

She was active in the theatre scene while at university, forming a close friendship with fellow actor-director Satish Kaushik, who encouraged her to follow his lead and join the National School of Drama. Gupta enrolled at NSD in 1977, studying under the tutelage of such greats as Ebrahim Alkazi and B.V. Karanth and graduated top of her class in 1980. Her contemporaries at the institute include Alok Nath and Annu Kapoor.

Film career
Gupta has made appearances in several international films, such as Gandhi (1982), in which she played the niece of Mahatma Gandhi, and Merchant Ivory films, The Deceivers (1988), Mirza Ghalib (1989), In Custody (1993), and Cotton Mary (1999). She also made an impression in Indian parallel cinema such as Mandi (1983), Rihaee (1988), Drishti (1990) and Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1992). These performances further established her profile in Indian movies alongside her arthouse film contemporaries Rekha, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Dimple Kapadia. Despite this, Gupta never had a major commercial hit and found it difficult to find more dramatic roles:

"I made a few mistakes in the beginning of my career. I didn't have anybody to guide me. I didn't have a secretary. I didn't call up directors, or meet people asking for roles. Also, because of the media, there is a perception that I am a strong woman. Unfortunately, in our society, that goes against you. So, I got negative, vampish roles only. Plain and simple female roles never come my way because of my image, which is very wrong. My personal life got typecast into my professional life."

Her appearance in Hindi movies was especially noted in the satirical movie, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in which she played the role of a secretary to Pankaj Kapoor. She also starred along with Madhuri Dixit in Khalnayak (1993); she was featured in the popular song "Choli Ke Peeche" in the movie.

Gupta starred in several television films, including Lajwanti (1993) and Bazar Sitaram (1993), the latter of which won her the National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film of a Director. The following year, she achieved her breakthrough as a newly widowed daughter-in-law in the acclaimed drama Woh Chokri (1994), which won her the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Career resurgence (2017–present)
In 2017, Gupta made headlines when she shared a post on Instagram asking for work: "I live in Mumbai and working as a good actor looking for good parts to play." Fed up with the lack of roles being written for middle-aged women in Bollywood, Gupta later reflected, "After that Instagram post, I got many offers -- five, in fact, and I accepted all of them. There is no shame in saying you don't have work."

One of the offers she accepted was Amit Sharma's comedy-drama Badhaai Ho (2018), in which she starred alongside Gajraj Rao, Ayushmann Khurrana and Sanya Malhotra. The film, which told the story of a middle-aged couple who get pregnant, much to the disappointment of their children, saw her play a middle-aged pregnant mother, It received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with various critics and publications citing Gupta's performance as the film's highlight and one of the best of her career. Film critic Rajeev Masand credited Gupta for bringing "real empathy" to the part, while Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV described her portrayal as "outstandingly measured." For her performance, she received several accolades including the Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics), the Screen Award for Best Actress (Critics), and the BFJA Award for Best Supporting Actress (Hindi). At 60, she became the second-eldest Best Actress nominee in Filmfare Award history after Sharmila Tagore. Badhaai Ho also emerged as a major commercial success at the box-office, grossing over ₹221.44 crore (US$32.38 million) worldwide, thus ranking as the ninth-highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.

In 2020, Gupta appeared in Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari's sports comedy-drama Panga, and reunited with Khurana for the social romantic comedy-drama Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, earning positive reviews for her performance in both films, earning her first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Gupta appeared alongside Manoj Bajpayee and Sakshi Tanwar in the thriller Dial 100.

In 2021, Gupta starred in the black comedy-drama Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar alongside Parineeti Chopra, Arjun Kapoor, Jaideep Ahlawat and Raghubir Yadav, as the wife of Yadav's character. Her performance, and the film, received critical acclaim and earned her a second consecutive nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Television career
Her big break on television came with Khandan (1985), Yatra (1986), Gulzar's Mirza Ghalib (1987), a TV miniseries, followed by Shyam Benegal's Bharat Ek Khoj (1988) and later Dard (1994), Gumraah (1995), Shrimaan Shrimati (1995), Saans, Saat Phere – Saloni Ka Safar (2005), Chitthi (2003), Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin (2004). She has also acted in the TV serial, Buniyaad.

She also hosted the Indian version of the TV series The Weakest Link, Kamzor Kadii Kaun and appeared in Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin which gave her considerable popularity.

She has directed successful TV series, such as Saans (1999), Siski in (2000) and Kyun Hota Hai Pyarrr. She played the role of Shubha, one of the four women main leads in Ladies Special, a daily soap on Sony TV. She is now seen in Dil Se Diya Vachan as a doctor by profession and mother-in-law of the lead character Nandani which airs on Zee TV.

She also ran a theatre production company, 'Sahaj Productions' with actor, Rajendra Gupta, and acted as well as produced the Hindi play Soorya Ki Antim Kiran Se Soorya Ki Paheli Kiran Tak. She has also had some roles in Rishtey which was aired on Zee TV during 1999–2000.

She made an appearance in Amazon Prime's Panchayat as Manju Devi Pradhan.

She has also been a part of Masaba Masaba, a Netflix show based on her and her daughter Masaba Gupta, who is a designer by profession.

Personal life
Gupta married Amlan Kusum Ghose, studying at IIT-Delhi, while still a bachelor's student. The marriage was short-lived with both mutually and amicably deciding to part ways within a year. She was briefly engaged to Shaarangdev Pandit, the son of Pandit Jasraj. She was in a relationship with former West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards in the late 1980s. Though they never married, they have a daughter named Masaba Gupta born in 1989. Since Richards was already married, Gupta decided to raise Masaba on her own as a single mother. In 2008, Gupta married New Delhi–based chartered accountant Vivek Mehra in a private ceremony in the United States.