After 30 years, actor Neena Gupta is honoured with yet another National Award. She has been recognised with the Best Supporting Actress award for her portrayal of Shabina Siddiqui in the 2022 film Uunchai, as announced at the 70th National Awards on Friday, August 16.
In a follow-up conversation, when asked if she still craves such prestigious awards, Gupta responds, “Har aadmi greedy hota hai awards ke liye. Jab nahi milta to dukh hota hai thodi der ke liye, uske baad main bhool jaati hun aur sochti hu ki kaam karte raho, kabhi na kabhi to milega. Appreciation se, aur jab aapko award milta hai, bohot acha lagta hai.” (Everyone desires recognition and awards. When you don’t receive one, it’s natural to feel disappointed for a time. However, I remind myself to stay focused and keep working hard, believing that eventually, I’ll earn it. But being recognised for one’s work feels nice).
This marks Gupta’s third National Award. Her first win came in 1993 for Bazar Sitaram where she won the National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film of a Director, and her second was in 1994 for Woh Chokri, which won her the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.
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“What do you work for?” Gupta asks, then answers, “You work for people to appreciate you, otherwise why would you work so much. I don’t want to do a play in my drawing room; I want more and more people to see me and appreciate me. This award makes me feel good that ‘ok, keep on working hard, if not today then tomorrow you will get the fruit’. It keeps on encouraging me to keep on doing good work.”
Unlike many actors who list numerous acknowledgments upon receiving awards, Gupta dedicates this win solely to herself. She explains her reason for this. “Every work is fickle these days. There is a lot of competition, there are a lot of hurdles, and you feel dejected sometimes. Sometimes your film is not released, and you feel very frustrated and sad, so what you have to do is tell yourself that ‘ok forget it. I will keep on doing my work. Someday, somebody will recognise it.’ So it is me and me only who has to go through all this,” she says.
An alumna of the National School of Drama, New Delhi, Gupta recalls a crucial lesson from her student days that continues to inspire her. “Humare NSD mein ek play karte the usme ek dialogue tha ‘har kisi ko apne daant ka dard khud hi sehna padta hai’. Dusra bas baith sakta hai aapke saath but you have to bear the pain. So I feel that this kind of perseverance where I kept going on and on even if things were not going alright and kept at it, this was all me only. I keep getting a lot of support from people around me but finally it’s me who has not succumbed to failure,” she ends.
