The tide seems to have turned in favour of Neena Gupta who had put out an Instagram post around the same time last year seeking acting opportunities. Now, 13 months later, she has a slew of projects lined up.
Gupta’s post dated July 2017 came during a time when her film offers started dwindling; she hadn’t had a release for two years. Her last project then was the 2015 Bipasha Basu starrer Alone and the 2013 movie Issaq. Soon after her post though, she received two opportunities to act – in Anubhav Sinha’s Mulk and Veere Di Wedding.
Gupta, in an interview with the Hindustan Times, observed that her post on social media was indeed useful. “The first person who offered me a film after that post was Anubhav Sinha, and it was a great role. Then Rhea Kapoor came home and told me about Veere Di Wedding, and I accepted,” said Gupta.
Sinha’s Mulk and Kapoor’s Veere Di Wedding were commercially successful, and Gupta is currently awaiting the release of Badhaai Ho. Starring Ayushman Khuranna and Sanya Malhotra, the movie is about an elderly couple who, after having brought up two sons, discovers that a third child is on the way. Gupta plays the woman who gets pregnant in the twilight of her fertility. The trailer for the movie released a couple of days back and has been appreciated for its unconventional plot. The movie releases on October 19.
The other movies that the actress has in the pipeline are Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, The Last Colour and Pangaa. Sandeep Aur…, the movie directed by Dibakar Banerjee, has Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra in the lead roles. Produced by Aditya Chopra, the movie is expected to release on March 1, 2019. The Last Colour, based on chef Vikas Khanna’s book of the same name has Gupta playing a widow and focuses on her relationship with a young tight-rope walker. Khanna writes and directs the movie.
Meanwhile, Pangaa, the Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari movie, features Kangana Ranaut in the role of a Kabaddi player and talks about the role family plays in the lives of sportspersons.
