Neena Gupta reveals top filmmaker’s crass comment after she refused to sleep with him: ‘I was very angry’
Neena Gupta felt angry when a top filmmaker once made a crass remark about her in front of others, because she refused to perform sexual favours.
Actor Neena Gupta revealed that a ‘big’ filmmaker once made a crass comment about her after she refused to perform sexual favours. She said that he made the comment in front of other people, including actors, leaving her fuming.
Neena Gupta, who has just released her autobiography titled Sach Kahun Toh, said that she wanted to name and shame the director, but her friends advised her against it. She added that she did not name him in her book as the publishers warned her of legal consequences if she did so.
Speaking with Sonali Bendre, Neena said that she kept mum earlier because she was just a ‘struggling actor’, and people would only find fault with her if she spoke against more ‘popular’ people. She said, “This film director told me in front of everybody, ‘Cheezon ko istemaal nahi karo toh zung lag jaata hai (If you don’t use things, they begin to rust)’, because I was not sleeping with him. I kind of refused indirectly. He said it in front of everybody, all the actors and everybody.”
Neena recalled feeling furious at the director’s comments. “I was very angry. I came back and told my friends, ‘I want to tell the press that this is what he said to me.’ And my friends said, ‘Who will listen to you? He is a big name. Nobody will listen to you. What’s the point? Tumhari badnaami hogi (Your name will only be besmirched).’ Phir bhi (Even then), I told somebody and then he said some very nasty things about me. Then, my friends said, ‘See, this is what is going to happen. It will become very dirty. So, just keep quiet. When your time comes, you say.’ This is my time so I am saying it,” she said.
Sach Kahun Toh explores Neena’s life, from her childhood in Delhi, to moving to Mumbai in the 1980s after studying at the National School of Drama and her struggle to find work. The book also touches upon her having daughter Masaba Gupta out of wedlock and her second innings in Bollywood.
