Manju Mishra’s wobbly walk makes it evident that her knees are aching. Her steely determination, however, prevents her from buckling under pressure, financial or emotional. Manju’s ups and downs are effortlessly brought to life by actor Neena Gupta in directors Jaspal Singh Sandhu’s and Rajeev Barnwal’s Vadh, a thriller streaming on Netflix.
Anupam Kher and Neena Gupta in Shiv Shastri Balboa | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Neena and Sanjay Mishra play an aging couple in Gwalior who are forced to deal with a series of setbacks that beset them on account of a huge loan they had taken for the education of their only son.
Neena recalls it was a tough shoot. “A small-budget film that was shot in the summer of Gwalior. It was a lovely surprise every which way, when it shaped up to be an excellent film that is winning appreciation.”
She says one of the features she liked about the film was the way silence speaks in the movie. “There is less of dialogue. That added volume to the film. Vadh also debates if taking the law into one’s own hands can be justified in any way and why people do it sometimes.”
Looking back on how she is able to enact characters that look so real, she says it is because she is a good observer of people. “I observe people all the time and take their mannerisms from them and the trick is not to overdo it. For instance, Manju’s bad knees was never over emphasised. It was part of the personality of the character.”
Neena Gupta during a lunch with Mumbai’s dabbawalas during a promotional event for their movie Shiv Shastri Balboa in Mumbai | Photo Credit: PTI
The veteran’s new project, Shiv Shastri Balboa (SSB), a feel-good film directed by Ajayan Venugopalan is currently in theatres. In SSB, she plays Elsa Zachariah, a maid from Andhra Pradesh working in the US.
Saying that it was a great pleasure to work with Ajayan, she points that one reason was because he was open to suggestions and discussed the characters and the scenes with the actors.
Describing her character, Neena says Elsa is someone who thinks of solutions instead of dwelling on problems. It is not the first time that Anupam and Neena are working together and she says there is a space that she enjoys while working with him.
“In SSB, the relationship between them is one of warm friendship and understanding. We were careful to not even touch each other to show that it is an emotional bond and not a physical one.
“It would be simplistic to call it only a story between two senior citizens. That is the core of the film but in the narrative, we talk about legal and illegal immigrants, their challenges, loneliness of senior citizens and so on. It is about positivity and how one is never old for adventures and new experiences.” Even if Elsa were to be imprisoned, Neena says, her optimism cannot be confined.
When Neena’s character’s spoke Malayalam
Neena has never let herself be confined to a certain kind of character or platform. The crossover actor has left her stamp in theatre, cinema and television, in fact in every character she has essayed over the years, beginning with Aadharshila (1982).
Neena was part of the parallel film movement and worked in the films such as Shyam Benegal’s Mandi, Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron and Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi. While she was noted as an excellent actor, it was in the second phase of her career that she tasted the kind of popularity that makes a star.
In Badhaai Ho (2018), Neena’s character, Priyamvada Kaushik, was a middle-aged woman who had to put up with social prejudices thanks to a late pregnancy. Since that breakthrough role, Neena had a range of interesting roles that had made her a much-in-demand actor.
Neena Gupta and Mohanlal in G Aravindan’s Vasthuhara | Photo Credit: Hindu Archives
2022 has been an interesting year for the actor with three of her films doing well – Goodbye, Uunchai and Vadh.
Frank as ever she quips, “Yes, Goodbye did well but I wish I had more scenes. I had to play a dead body for eight days. I am happy that the film did well,” she says about the film in which she played Amitabh Bachchan’s character’s wife.
OTT platforms came as a bonanza for versatile actors like her who could step into any role and play it with conviction. Her web series such as Masaba Masaba and Panchayat, have been getting rave reviews too. In Panchayat she plays Manju Devi, Sarpanch of a village where her husband reigns through her most of the time though she does turn the tables on him once or twice. “Woh toh purani baat hai (That’s old news). Yes, I have won awards for Panchayat and Badhaai Ho has become a cult film,” she says, making it clear that she would much rather talk about her projects in the pipeline.
Up next for Neena is Ba (grandmother), in which an important co-star of hers is a dog. “I have also done another film in which I work with a dog. In March, I begin working with R Balki on his new season of the anthology Lust Stories.”
