Neena Gupta
Gupta in 2020
Born	(1959-06-04)4 June 1959 (age 65)[1] Calcutta (nowKolkata),West Bengal,India
Education	National School of Drama
Alma mater	University of Delhi (BA,MA,MPhil)
Occupations	Actress television director
Years active	1982–present
Spouses	Amlan Kusum Ghose ​ ​ (m. 1977; div. 1978)​ Vivek Mehra ​ (m. 2008)​
Partner	Viv Richards (1980s)
Children	Masaba Gupta

Neena Gupta (born 4 June 1959) is an Indian actress and television director who works inHindi films and television along with fewMalayalam films. She has received several awards including threeNational Film Awards, aFilmfare Award and twoFilmfare OTT Awards.

Known for her work in both art-house and commercial films, she won theNational Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing a young widow inWoh Chokri (1994) and forUunchai (2022). In 2018, she saw career resurgence for starring as a middle-aged pregnant woman in the comedy-dramaBadhaai Ho, for which she won theFilmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics) and received a nomination for theFilmfare Award for Best Actress.^[2][3][4]

Gupta's television appearances include a leading role in the drama seriesSaans (1999) and as the host of the Indian version of the television quiz showThe Weakest Link, namedKamzor Kadii Kaun.^[5] In June 2021, publisher Penguin Random House India released her autobiographySach Kahun Toh.^[6]

Neena Gupta was born on 4 June 1959^[1] inKolkata, India to R. N. Gupta, aLL.B.-graduate and an officer in theState Trading Corporation of India, and Shakuntala Devi Gupta (née Kinra) a former teacher with double masters degrees inSanskrit and political science.

She grew up in theKarol Bagh area of New Delhi, doing her elementary schooling at the Bal Bharti School and secondary schooling at Vidya Bhawan. She went on to get herBachelor of Arts fromJanki Devi Memorial College,Delhi University and herMaster of Arts in Sanskrit fromDelhi University. She also earned anMPhil from the same university for her thesis on 'Stage Techniques in Sanskrit Drama: Theory and Practice'. Midway through herPhD in Sanskrit, she gave up her research due to difference of opinion between her guide and her.

She was active in the theatre scene while at university, forming a close friendship with fellow actor-directorSatish Kaushik, who encouraged her to follow his lead and join theNational School of Drama. Gupta enrolled atNSD in 1977, studying under the tutelage of such greats asEbrahim Alkazi andB.V. Karanth and graduated top of her class in 1980. Her contemporaries at the institute includeAlok Nath andAnnu Kapoor.^[7]

Gupta has made appearances in several international films, such asGandhi (1982), in which she played the niece ofMahatma Gandhi, andMerchant Ivory films,The Deceivers (1988),Mirza Ghalib (1989),In Custody (1993), andCotton Mary (1999). She also made an impression in Indian parallel cinema such asMandi (1983),Rihaee (1988),Drishti (1990) andSuraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1992). These performances further established her profile in Indian movies alongside her arthouse film contemporariesRekha,Shabana Azmi,Smita Patil andDimple Kapadia. Despite this, Gupta never had a major commercial hit and found it difficult to find more dramatic roles:^[8]

I made a few mistakes in the beginning of my career. I didn't have anybody to guide me. I didn't have a secretary. I didn't call up directors, or meet people asking for roles. Also, because of the media, there is a perception that I am a strong woman. Unfortunately, in our society, that goes against you. So, I got negative, vampish roles only. Plain and simple female roles never come my way because of my image, which is very wrong. My personal life got typecast into my professional life.^[8]

Her appearance in Hindi movies was especially noted in the satirical movie,Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in which she played the role of a secretary toPankaj Kapoor.^[9] She also starred along withMadhuri Dixit inKhalnayak (1993); she was featured in the popular song "Choli Ke Peeche" in the movie.

Gupta starred in several television films, includingLajwanti (1993) andBazar Sitaram (1993), the latter of which won her theNational Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film of a Director. The following year, she achieved her breakthrough as a newly widowed daughter-in-law in the acclaimed dramaWoh Chokri (1994), which won her theNational Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2017, Gupta made headlines when she shared a post onInstagram asking for work: "I live in Mumbai and working as a good actor looking for good parts to play." Fed up with the lack of roles being written for middle-aged women in Bollywood, Gupta later reflected, "After that Instagram post, I got many offers -- five, in fact, and I accepted all of them. There is no shame in saying you don't have work."^[8]

One of the offers she accepted wasAmit Sharma's comedy-dramaBadhaai Ho (2018), in which she starred alongsideGajraj Rao,Ayushmann Khurrana andSanya Malhotra. The film, which told the story of a middle-aged couple who get pregnant, much to the disappointment of their children, saw her play a middle-aged pregnant mother, It received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with various critics and publications citing Gupta's performance as the film's highlight and one of the best of her career. Film criticRajeev Masand credited Gupta for bringing "real empathy" to the part, whileSaibal Chatterjee ofNDTV described her portrayal as "outstandingly measured."^[10][11] For her performance, she received several accolades including theFilmfare Award for Best Actress (Critics), theScreen Award for Best Actress (Critics), and the BFJA Award for Best Supporting Actress (Hindi).^[12] At 60, she became the second-eldest Best Actress nominee inFilmfare Award history afterSharmila Tagore.Badhaai Ho also emerged as a major commercial success at the box-office, grossing over ₹221.44 crore (US$32.38 million) worldwide, thus ranking as theninth-highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.^[13]

In 2020, Gupta appeared inAshwiny Iyer Tiwari's sports comedy-dramaPanga, and reunited with Khurana for the social romantic comedy-dramaShubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, earning positive reviews for her performance in both films, earning her first nomination for theFilmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Gupta appeared alongsideManoj Bajpayee andSakshi Tanwar in the thrillerDial 100.^[14]

In 2021, Gupta starred in the black comedy-dramaSandeep Aur Pinky Faraar alongsideParineeti Chopra,Arjun Kapoor,Jaideep Ahlawat andRaghubir Yadav, as the wife of Yadav's character. Her performance, and the film, received critical acclaim and earned her a second consecutive nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Her big break on television came withKhandan (1985),Yatra (1986), Gulzar'sMirza Ghalib (1987), a TVminiseries, followed byShyam Benegal'sBharat Ek Khoj (1988) and laterDard (1994),Gumraah (1995),Shrimaan Shrimati (1995),Saans,Saat Phere – Saloni Ka Safar (2005),Chitthi (2003),Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin (2004). She has also acted in the TV serial, Buniyaad.

She also hosted the Indian version of the TV seriesThe Weakest Link,Kamzor Kadii Kaun and appeared inJassi Jaissi Koi Nahin which gave her considerable popularity.

She has directed successful TV series, such asSaans (1999),Siski in (2000) andKyun Hota Hai Pyarrr. She played the role of Shubha, one of the four women main leads inLadies Special, a daily soap onSony TV. She is now seen inDil Se Diya Vachan as a doctor by profession and mother-in-law of the lead character Nandani which airs onZee TV.

She also ran a theatre production company, 'Sahaj Productions' with actor,Rajendra Gupta, and acted as well as produced the Hindi playSoorya Ki Antim Kiran Se Soorya Ki Paheli Kiran Tak. She has also had some roles inRishtey which was aired on Zee TV during 1999–2000.

She made an appearance inAmazon Prime'sPanchayat as Manju Devi Pradhan.

She has also been a part ofMasaba Masaba, a Netflix show based on her and her daughter Masaba Gupta, who is a designer by profession.^{[citation needed]}

Gupta married Amlan Kusum Ghose, studying atIIT-Delhi, while still a bachelor's student. The marriage was short-lived with both mutually and amicably deciding to part ways within a year.^[15] She was briefly engaged to Shaarangdev Pandit, the son ofPandit Jasraj.^[16][17][18] She was in a relationship with formerWest Indies cricketerVivian Richards in the late 1980s. Though they never married, they have a daughter namedMasaba Gupta born in 1989.^[19] Since Richards was already married, Gupta decided to raise Masaba on her own as a single mother. In 2008, Gupta married New Delhi–basedchartered accountant Vivek Mehra in a private ceremony in the United States.^{[20][21][22][23]}

Wikimedia Commons has media related toNeena Gupta.

• Neena Gupta atIMDb 
• Neena Gupta atBollywood Hungama
• Neena Gupta onTwitter

• Living people
• 1959 births
• National School of Drama alumni
• Indian film actresses
• Indian television actresses
• Hindi-language film directors
• Indian women television directors
• Indian television directors
• Indian women television producers
• Indian television producers
• Lawrence School, Sanawar alumni
• Actresses in Malayalam cinema
• Best Supporting Actress National Film Award winners
• 20th-century Indian actresses
• 21st-century Indian actresses
• Actresses in Hindi television
• Filmfare Awards winners
• Screen Awards winners
• Actresses from Delhi

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from March 2023
• Use Indian English from January 2020
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from December 2022
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Bollywood Hungama person template using Wikidata property P7923