We rarely encounter women who mature so bravely and spectacularly in a culture that is deeply rooted in conservatism. However, there are always “you never know circumstances,” as the saying goes. Yes, today we will discuss one such Indian woman who, despite being raised in a culture that is dominated by orthodox ideals, defied all social expectations and gave birth to a child outside of marriage before deciding it was time to wed the love of her life.
This one is about none other than Neena Gupta, one of the bravest actors and star idols of the Bollywood business.
Beginning of Neena’s journey
The Bollywood business didn’t know that an extremely gifted woman will soon be bestowed upon them when they were born in 1959. She attended the Lawrence School Sanawar for her undergraduate studies before continuing her acting career at Delhi’s Janki Devi College.
When she aced her interview with the National School of Drama, she never looked back and kept moving forward in her life toward the beginning of a successful acting career.
Neena Gupta’s acting career
She started her acting career at the tender age of just 23. She played a number of supporting roles, which helped her gain a lot of notoriety in the business. She began performing on television in 1980, which was also the year that soap operas began to be produced and aired on Doordarshan. She performed in iconic and ground-breaking roles.
Neena’s love life
Her romantic life was more like an up-and-down roller coaster, with initially more downs than ups. She had her first-ever public relationship with the well-known Indian actor and television personality Alok Nath. It was a brief relationship, and finally, both parties went their own ways.
Her subsequent high-profile relationship was with the singer Shaarang Dev’s son. Shaarang Dev broke up their engagement just before they were ready to get married, much to her disappointment. Neena was devastated in the early 1980s, which is certainly an understatement.
Neena Gupta and Alok Nath
The actor (Alok Nath and Neena Gupta Affairs) made their Bollywood debut in the year 1982 with the film Gandhi. The film received the Academy Award for Best Picture. After this, Alok stepped into the small screen with the TV serial Buniyaad, which gave him recognition.
Neena Gupta and Satish Kaushik have been friends since 1975. In her recently published autobiography Sach Kahun Toh, Neena Gupta claimed that she met Masaba Gupta, the fashion designer, while she was pregnant. Satish Kaushik, a filmmaker, proposed to her.
Link with an infamous West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards
When the West Indies cricket team visited India in the late 1980s, things were expected to drastically alter for the worse in her life. Vivian Richards, the captain of the West Indies cricket team at the time, was secretly well known as a philanderer. She was also married with two children at the time. He started dating Neena Gupta.
Although Neena Gupta and Viv Richards’ relationship started out as a casual one, things changed when Neena was discovered to be pregnant.
Neena gave birth to Masaba Gupta
She had a daughter at the age of 30, whom she named Masaba Gupta. Today, many of us are familiar with Masaba Gupta as a well-known Indian fashion designer who is not only a stunning and self-assured woman but also has a company called House of Masaba.
As a single, unmarried mother, Neena was a slap in the face to everyone who believed having a child outside of marriage meant the end of one’s life.
When Vivian Richards learned about everything, he made every effort to be there in his daughter’s life. Even if he had endured criticism, Neena’s anguish was beyond Vivian’s comprehension.
Neena’s quest for work after giving birth
No matter how much suffering Neena went through, she never gave up on acting. It was difficult, but her post in which she states, “I reside in Mumbai and working as a good actor looking for good parts to play,” supports the idea that she loves and is passionate about her playing career and has a never-give-up attitude.
She kept looking for jobs that would allow her genuine talent to shine. She received two national honours by 1994. She kept pushing herself to do more work. She recently received a lot of accolades for her cameo in Sardar Ka Grandson.
The time when she finally found her true love
Neena had achieved the success she desired, but her life remained somewhat lonely. On a flight, she met Chartered Accountant Vivek Mehra from Delhi, and the two of them immediately bonded. After being blissfully together for approximately six years, they decided in 2008 that it was time to give their relationship a name that would last.
Vivek had meticulous plans in place to ask his beloved Neena to be his wife; all that was left was for her to accept, which she of course did.
Neena’s amazing second innings
Neena struggled to find better employment, but she eventually had a chance that she would never forget when she was cast in the hugely successful movie “Badhaai Ho.” She received her first Filmfare award thanks to this movie.
She played herself in the 2020 season of the Netflix original sitcom Masaba Masaba. She finally published her own autobiography, Sach Kahun Toh, when she was 62 years old. She at last achieved the success she deserved from the start.
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I’m not sure what else could qualify as an impressive, brave, and heartwarming life story if not this. Neena is a leading advocate for debunking the notion of the single, unmarried mother as a social outcast. Every regular woman is encouraged by Neena’s amazing life to have a little more faith in herself and stand up for what she believes to be right.
