EXCLUSIVE: Neena Gupta reveals that she HID her pregnancy while shooting for Gulzar’s Mirza Ghalib: “During the seventh month, I shot in a tonga on a ‘ubad khabad’ road. I was VERY scared”

By Fenil Seta -

March 3, 2025 - 1:30 PM IST

Last year was a special one for Neena Gupta as she turned Nani. Her daughter, Masaba Gupta, gave birth to a baby girl named Matara. Neena Gupta spoke about it during her exclusive interaction with Bollywood Hungama. When asked how it is going being a nani, Neena Gupta happily replied, “It’s going good. Abhi toh bahut choti hai woh (smiles). Thode thode reactions dene usne shuru kiya hai.”

EXCLUSIVE: Neena Gupta reveals that she HID her pregnancy while shooting for Gulzar’s Mirza Ghalib: “During the seventh month, I shot in a tonga on a ‘ubad khabad’ road. I was VERY scared”

In an interview with Bombay Times before her delivery, in September 2024, Masaba Gupta revealed, “She (Neena Gupta) had to hide her pregnancy. She was telling me how she (even) did a dance number in her eighth or ninth month.”

We asked Neena about it and which film it was. She revealed, “It was for the TV show, ‘Mirza Ghalib’ (directed by Gulzar). There’s a scene where I am coming in a tonga and it was shot in a ‘ubad khabad’ road. When I began shooting for the show, I was only four months pregnant. Even then, I did a dance number. But during the seventh month of pregnancy, they told me that a scene hadn’t been shot. I had to sit in a tonga and shoot for it. I was very scared.”

Did people in the unit know that she was expecting? Neena Gupta answered, “No, not many people knew. Gulzar saab knew from the very beginning. I told him kyunki itni beimaani main nahin kar sakti na kisi ke saath. I had told him about it way in advance. He used to look after me like a father figure (smiles). Ultimately, it’s an actor’s job to shoot, come rain or shine. Hence, I went for it.”

Neena’s divine Kumbh experience

Recently, Neena Gupta visited the Maha Kumbh Mela where she and Sanjay Mishra announced Vadh 2, the sequel to their acclaimed film Vadh (2022). On this, Neena Gupta said, “It was my desire to visit the Kumbh Mela at least once. After all, there’s a lot of hype surrounding it. This time, I got a chance thanks to Vadh 2.”

She continued, “The experience was amazing. I had never seen so many people quietly walking with their luggage for kilometres. We got done very late and we ate food at 2:00 am. Even at that time, we could see people walking. Aisi shraddha maine pehle nahin dekhi thi apni aankhon se.”