Neena Gupta recalls reading 'unbelievable' news report about her taking 'salesgirl' job

Neena Gupta recalled 'unbeleivable' news reports written about her. She said that once, she read that she'd taken up a job as a 'salesgirl' at a carpet showroom.

Neena Gupta has recalled reading news items about herself that she was shocked by. Once, someone wrote that she had taken on a job as a 'salesgirl'. The actor recently launched her autobiography, Sach Kahun Toh, in which she wrote about her professional and personal highs and lows.

Neena Gupta recently released her autobiography, Sach Kahun Toh. (Instagram)

In an interview, Neena Gupta said that it was very common back in the day to come across 'unbelievable' reports that were written about her. She gave an example, too.

She told The Quint, "So many times, you don't know what lies people have written about me. When I was very new here, I remember they wrote in some film magazine, 'Neena Gupta is working as a salesgirl in Shyam Ahuja's shop'."

She continued, "Believe me, I did not know who Shyam Ahuja was at that time. We couldn't afford Shyam Ahuja, I did not know who he is. I asked my friends about him. They said he has a carpet shop. Why? Why I was working (there)? Unbelievable. My fault; I feed them that."

She concluded by saying that the one piece of advice that she'd give her younger self is "Focus on your work; don't focus on men."

In her book, Neena wrote about the difficulties she faced as a single mother raising her daughter Masaba, and also the professional troubles she faced as an actor in the film industry. She recalled unsavoury interactions with directors, and being overlooked for lead roles in films helmed by men she considered her friends.