Neena Gupta is without a doubt one of today’s most versatile actors. A few years ago, the performer went through a dry spell with little to no employment and had to rely on filmmakers to offer her roles. Things, on the other hand, don’t take long to alter.
Today, Neena not only gets a range of jobs, but she also gets paid well for her work. Not only that, but she also confessed that she was surprised by a recent signing fee she received for a project. She thought the sum was excessive.
Badhaai Ho revitalised Neena’s career in 2018, she stated. Her most recent production was the Amazon Prime Video web series Panchayat. She went on to say that while she had previously only been offered roles as women in urban settings, her opportunities had opened up after she acted in Badhaai Ho, in which she played a woman who became pregnant at the age of 52.
“I’ve been offered a substantial sum of money,” she says “When questioned if she was paid well for her work now that she had been through financial hardships for years, Neena told Bollywood Hungama that she was. “My manager just informed me of the amount I received on a recent project, and it astounded me. ‘Nahin yaar, ye to bahut jyada hain, itne kyu maange,’ I said him. This is excessive. Why did you request such a large sum of money)?”
When asked how she felt portraying different roles after being categorised as a “city girl” for so long, Neena responded, “An actor always wants to explore new roles; nobody loves playing same characters all the time.” We must, however, make a decision among the possibilities offered to us, she stated.
“Right now, I’m in a position where I’m being given a number of different projects. Because I dress in shorts and skirts, the media perceives me as a city girl, and I am frequently cast in such parts. But Badhaai Ho changed everything for me; people realised I could play middle-class housewives right away.”
Neena is currently filming Goodbye, a film directed by Vikas Bahl and starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rashmika Mandanna.