Neena Gupta was virtually MIA for a long time but she has resurfaced on silver screen with a bang. Recently, the senior actress has done quite a few films, but bet that you haven't forgotten her tweet 6 months back that created a controversy! A Twitter user had shared his take on the Taapsee Pannu-Bhumi Pednekar starrer Saand Ki Aankh wishing that older actresses like Neena Gupta and Shabana Azmi should be cast for such roles.
Replying to the tweet in question, Neena had written, "Yes I was just thinking about this hamari umar ke role toe kamsekam humse kara lo bhai." This one tweet gave birth to the ageism debate.
Surprisingly, Neena in a recent exclusive conversation revealed to us that she had even sent a text message to Anurag Kashyap, when the casting of the film was going on, harbouring her wish to be a part of the film.
Said Neena, "Not many know but I had messaged Anurag to cast me in the film because I had liked the story. He replied to me saying, 'I myself want to cast older actresses but my co-producers and financiers are wanting to cast younger actresses' which I understand because they sell more than me. This (movie-making) is a business, nothing is personal here- whosoever sells is taken. So, I thought in my mind, 'Chhodo yaar, why did I speak out?. I should have just kept my views to myself."
Furthermore, Neena narrated an interesting fact, "Sab se zyada maine apni jawaani mein older roles kiye hai kyunki tab toh paise nahi rehte the- toh jo bhi role aata tha , hum kar lete the. I have played Anu Kapoor's mother's role and mind you, he was my batch-mate."
Anyway, Neena has now promised that she'll be careful before expressing herself on social media.
Image Source:- instagram/anuragkashyap10/neena_gupta
Image Source:- instagram/anuragkashyap10/neena_gupta