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Guts, grit and a shy interior

Kanwaljeet and Neena Gupta in Saans Click for bigger pic!

Neena Gupta recently missed picking up a job at The Taj, Bombay.

She might have been another attractive hospitality executive greeting guests as they arrived for dinner. Because, as much as the thought might boggle now, there was a time not long ago when taking up such a job seemed the last resort for her.

"I had shown the pilot episodes of both Dard and Saans to Zee TV and they had rejected them. I couldn't deal with the bureaucracy of Doordarshan any more. So when Zee turned down Saans, I thought, 'All right, I'll take up a job to survive.' I arranged for this job at Taj and was ready to start when Star Plus approved Saans."

Saans went on to become one of the most loved serials on Indian television, and her next offering Palcchin also seems to have caught the Indian viewer's heart. It's unlikely that Gupta will ever take up that hospitality job now, but it's important to note that she was willing to do so. Because that's the kind of person she is -- uncompromising.

But why did Zee TV reject her serials? "I think it was because I was an actress. They couldn't accept me as a director. Kamlesh Pandey saw my pilot episode and he said 'The direction is not good'. I asked him to explain how it wasn't good, what was wrong with it. He couldn't explain."

This kind of summary rejection was nothing new for Gupta. She's faced her share of knocks. As a young aspirant fresh out of National School of Drama, she came to Bombay and walked into her first film role. "Saath Saath was my first big mistake!" That mischosen debut started off a rollercoaster career ride of ups and downs.

"Khandaan pushed me up again, but I continued doing art films which got me nothing. Then I did some really stupid roles in commercial films. But I also got some wonderful roles in serials like Kabir and Buniyaad."

It was while acting in serials that she developed an interest in the medium and she directed a documentary that won her a National Award. "After that, I made Dard, my first serial, which came on Doordarshan. Then Gumraah. Then Saans and, now, Palcchin."

She's stopped acting in films completely except for the occasional turn, like her role in Ismail Merchant's Cotton Mary. But she's sworn off commercial Bollywood films "because I don't want to do roles that have nothing in them."

Which is something you can't say about her direction of Palcchin, her new opus on Star Plus. The serial seems to be a family drama revolving around an elderly patriarch's decision to reawaken an old love affair with a recently widowed wife and mother. So what sparked off this story?

Go To Court Click for bigger pic!

"This is what's happening right now in our society. That's why it's important to make a statement. People feel that you have to be manipulative and deceitful in order to live. But there are people who stick to their ideals and are still happy. I wanted to show that this is also possible."

So she does admit that Saans and Palcchin are based largely on real life? "Yes, but not things happening in my own life or around me. They are things I've noticed since I've grown up. As you grow older, things start coming back to you. I've started remembering things I didn't realise I had noticed then. If you tap the subconscious, it's all there. But it's not just remembering. It's a need to express myself. I'm using television as a medium to express myself, and I'm getting paid for it. (Laughs). I'm very lucky!"

One reason why she's so lucky could be her disarming openness. Gupta speaks to all kinds of people -- liftmen, unit hands, housewives across the country, and she listens to all their suggestions, comments, criticisms. As even a few fortunate journalists have found, she's probably the only successful director who will call and ask, "What didn't you like about last week's episode? Tell me." This respect for even the most insignificant person's opinion leads to insights into the human condition that most television professionals today can't be bothered with trying to capture.

Gupta agrees. "I have a certain -- what's the word? -- empathy. This empathy comes across in my serials." She also admits that she wasn't always this open. "I used to be very judgmental when it came to people; now I find myself being more open, just observing." These observations find their way into her serials, and perhaps elevate them above the generally crass standards of most television fare.

Her other personal strengths also add value to her product. "I can laugh at my own grief. I've realised that nothing that happens is so grim that life can't go on. Life always goes on, no matter what. Even in the grimmest situation, I see hope. In Saans, after Gautam gets involved with Manisha and leaves Priya and her kids, Priya thinks her life is finished. But as time goes by, she realises that life goes on. That's when her story as a woman really starts."

With such an intense, personal involvement with her work, it's natural to assume that Priya in Saans is almost wholly Neena in real life.

"No," she replies emphatically. "Because Priya's life is only her husband and her children. My life has never been like that." Which is why, despite having a daughter from West Indian cricketing legend Viv Richards, Gupta doesn't crave the traditional trappings of marriage and family in the usual sense.

Neena Gupta and Viv Richards Click for bigger pic!

"I've always decided that I would never be dependant on a man." Definitely not a Priya.

In fact, her forthcoming novelisation of Saans will reveal more of the expected Neena Gupta boldness than the serial does. "In the book, I want to show how Gautam goes to Manisha just to satisfy a physical urge. It's just lust. On television, I can't do that because it's a family medium. And actors are very inhibited."

But that doesn't mean the novel will be just another steamy read, because Gupta's careful observations of human behaviour and motivation are certain to give it greater depth and substance. Also, as she observes uncharacteristically: "I'm very shy."

In fact, when she gets around to directing a feature film, she would like to make an old-fashioned gentle romance.

"Everybody says romance is going out of our lives, they wish they could bring it back. In the old days, people used to write love letters, today they just send printed greeting cards. Look at the bubblegum romance that's is in all the films today! Subtle romance is missing from our movies."

But that will take time because, unlike most directors, Gupta needs to have a story that "grows with me over time" before she can start work on directing it. Still, she's confident that her subtle portrayal of mature relationships will succeed on the big screen too.

"Audiences are changing, they want stronger subjects. The time is coming when more mature movies will run."

As for television itself, she's not particularly happy with the state of the industry. Not one to mince words or issue sound bytes in PR, Gupta lashes out at the puerile trash on the airwaves:

"There's not enough good television on the air. The state is very bad." She blames this largely on the amateurism of most of the so-called "stars" in every department and on the politics and corruption in private channels.

"It's too much. The channel heads should take care that these things are not allowed to happen."

Of course, no channel executive would ever dare ask Neena Gupta for a bribe -- or worse. "I'm such a muphat, that nobody will dare to ask. They know I will straightaway tell their boss!"

In fact, even today, she isn't afraid of failure. She has her education -- an M Phil degree -- and a determination to succeed with dignity. Or not succeed at all. If it comes to the crunch, she would rather take up a 9 to 5 job rather than succumb to the politics and corruption of the field. "Even today, if things don't work out, I'll do a job. But I won't bow down to unscrupulous people."

Is it any surprise then, that her leading characters display the same indomitable strength of character?