Neena Gupta has been very vocal about her life as a single mother, raising daughter Masaba Gupta while also balancing an acting career in Mumbai. She says her father’s emotional support and her mother’s unexpectedly unorthodox thinking helped her a lot. Mumbai as a city and society was kind to her as well. The actress’ outlook towards life is modern in many ways, but is she a cool, modern mother with daughter Masaba? Let’s find out.
Who was your biggest support as a single mother?
My father was my biggest support. He was the man of the house. He came and started living with me. If he had not stayed with me I would not have survived. He supported me emotionally, and financially as well, initially. When I had moved to Mumbai, I was living in a PG, under poor conditions. My mother’s thinking was so modern, she told my father, ‘Instead of dividing the property after our death, why don’t you give it to her now? She needs the money. Maybe she won’t even need it after our death.’ So my mother, who was so orthodox in so many ways, was so modern and practical in this situation. They sold one property and bought me one 1-bedroom-kitchen in Andheri East.
How has Mumbai, as a city, as a society, been kind to you at that point of time?
Very kind, very nice people. I remember when the riots had happened, I used to live in Aram Nagar. We used to live in small villas there. At night, when we heard gunshots – Masaba was very young then – I went and hid in my neighbour’s house because I was so scared. We put all the kinds in one room… they are in touch with me even now. Even now where I stay, I leave my keys with my neighbours – it’s like old times, because people are much older in my building. Even now, the people who live upstairs, if they make something that I like, they send me food.
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Masaba recently got married for the second time. Are you the kind of mother who would pressurize her daughter to get settled, or do you let her live her life the way she likes?
I am in between. Before her first marriage, I had told her you cannot live with your boyfriend without marrying him. Then the second time, I said, ‘No you stay together first, I have no objection’ (laughs). So I am changing with the times. I have to. I cannot think that whatever my mother did with me, I should do at least half of that with my daughter. I have to work on myself, at lot. I have to control myself. I have to logically reason with myself, that `don’t do it, times have changed`.
Watch the full interview here:
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