Neena Gupta

• Neena and Sanjay Mishra, who face financial problems after taking a hefty loan to send their son abroad.
• The chemistry between Neena Gupta and Sanjay Mishra brings alive the reality of a middle-class family.
• She went on to narrate the story of a well-wisher in her life.

Neena Gupta consistently astounds audiences with her acting abilities, whether it’s in a comedy or a noir movie. Her most recent movie, Vadh, is proof of this. She received plaudits for her strong performance in both Vadh and Sooraj Barjatya’s Uunchai. Neena Gupta provided more information about Vadh and explained why she isn’t concerned about the movie’s box office performance in a brief interview with Bollywood media.

Last Friday saw the theatrical release of Vadh. In it, Neena and Sanjay Mishra play a middle-class couple who experience financial difficulties as a result of taking out a sizable loan to send their kid overseas. The movie, which could initially appear to be another family drama, gets dark when issues result in murder. Neena Gupta stated of the response to the movie, “Well, the feedback and reviews are great. My main worry is that more people should visit theatres. As of right now, I don’t have any box office figures. I finally gave up fretting about it.

Neena Gupta stated she wants both critical acclaim and a successful run at the ticket counter when you ask her what matters most to her.  “Actors will benefit when the audience will watch the film and producers will be able to make money. This is how we will be able to get similar films and roles. Sirf critical reviews se to paise nahin ayenge na (critical reviews don’t fetch money). But, good reviews help to uplift a film and bring people to the theatre,” she reasoned.

The way Neena Gupta and Sanjay Mishra get along shows what a middle-class family is really like. Neena had a great time filming with him and said, “Sanjay Ji is a very easy human being to work with. You don’t see his craft, he is so good. When your co-actor is so good, your part gets elevated even more. He has a great sense of humour.”

The title of the movie strikes a chord. In the end, Sanjay Mishra’s character says, “Humne hatya nahin ki, humne vadh kiya hain,” which explains why they did it. Does she think it’s okay to do something wrong for a good reason? “It is easy to share an opinion while sitting for this interview. But in reality, you do things in the spur of the moment. You might not know what you should be doing. I cannot lecture others ‘aapke sath bhi aisa hua toh aapko bhi aisa karna chahiye ya police k pass jana chahiye.’ I don’t want to judge anyone who suffers from pain and ends up taking the matter into their own hands,” clarified Neena.

She then told the story of a good person in her life who had been hurt by their own children. “It happened with someone I know. I had told them hundred times ‘marne se pehle makaan nahi naam karna bacho ke naam pe (don’t leave the house to your kids in your will). But, they did it anyway. They were thrown out of the house during their ailment. People don’t listen and get emotional. This happens a lot because you can do anything for your kid. But, not necessarily they will be doing the same thing to you.”

So, what does Masaba, Neena Gupta’s daughter, think about Vadh? The older actor said, “Masaba ne film nahin dekhi (Masaba hasn’t watched the film). Madam is too busy now.” But, has she come across claims of Vadh giving flashbacks of Ajay Devgn-Mohanlal’s Drishyam series? “I haven’t watched Drishyam yet, not even the first one. I can’t comment on it.”

She said, “Listen, do you know how many human emotions are there? 7 raas hotein hain (There are seven principal emotions– happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust, and contempt, as per Ekman). All emotions will revolve around them. Ek hi family hoti hain. Abhi love stories me Laila-Majnu, Heer-Ranja, 100 bar banti hain aur 100 baar banti bhi rahengi. It’s just about how to add a new twist or turn to it, or add mellowness to it. Emotions will remain the same. Do filmein ek hi cheez pe ho sakti hain. Kyun nahi ho sakti hain? Mai zaya bol nahin sakti (Can’t it be? I can’t speak much) because I haven’t seen it.”

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