Neena Gupta is a celebrated actress who has been associated with the Indian film industry for many decades. Her four National Film Awards are proof of her acting talent. Today, she is also regarded as the diva who is not only aging like fine wine but also gives every youngster a run for their money. But did you know there were times she prayed to God and wished some of her films never see the light of the day because they were bad?

In a recent chat with Siddharth Kannan, Neena Gupta went back in time and recalled how she used to take ‘bad’ roles so she could earn money and make ends meet. The senior star stated that for many years, she took on roles even when her heart didn’t agree with them. The Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway actress stated that when she came from Delhi to Mumbai to work in the Indian film industry, she could not even meet the director. “I used to do very bad, stupid, horribly written roles like that of a servant,” she reminisced, adding that she had no other solution since she joined the industry against her parents’ wishes. Hence, she didn’t want to take money from them.

She elaborated that she has done “so many bad roles” that sometimes she used to pray to God ki ye release nahi ho ye picture (that the film does not release) because it was so bad. “My value is that I will suffer but I will not ask for money. That is my value,” she concluded.

Recently, the actress won the National Film Award for the film Uunchai. When asked what this win meant to her, personally and professionally, the actress exclusively told Pinkvilla, “This award is special for two reasons. One is that it is a National Award. National means India ke sabhi regions ki filmein, bhashayein aur pranto ki filmo mese aap chune jate hai (You are chosen from the films and languages of all regions and states of India). It’s not just from Hindi cinema.”

She added, “It’s a very special award for me because of Sooraj Barjatya. I have been wanting to work with him for the past 35 years, and it just happened, and getting an award with and for his film was a very important thing for me.”

Meanwhile, on the work front, Neena Gupta was last seen in Kaagaz 2.

Nitesh Tiwari’s Ramayana is one of the most ambitious projects currently underway in Bollywood. It stars Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram and Sai Pallavi as Goddess Sita. In a recent interview, South Indian superstar Yash confirmed the rumors of him playing Ravan in the movie. He mentioned that he finds the character fascinating, which motivated him to sign the project. Yash also expressed his excitement about the news and praised Sai Pallavi as a good choice for the film.

Yash has achieved massive success and fame with his films KGF and its sequel. Both films gained nationwide success, and fans were delighted to learn that he would be a part of the Ranbir-starrer Ramayana, as reported earlier. Although the actor never reacted to the news, he recently confirmed it to The Hollywood Reporter India and expressed his excitement.

When asked how he landed the role, the popular star shared that he was in the US for the VFX work of another film when he found out about it. He met Namit Malhotra from VFX companies DNEG and Prime Focus, who revealed that his team had been working on Ramayana for a long time. Consequently, Malhotra asked if he was interested in playing Ravan, and the KGF actor connected with Nitesh Tiwari for further discussions.

The masterpiece actor shared his views on playing Ravan and admitted that he found the role fascinating and wouldn’t have chosen any other character to play. He said, “It’s a very fascinating character. I wouldn’t have done it for any other reason. In Ramayan, if you had asked me, ‘would you play any other character?’ Probably not. For me, Ravana is the most exciting character to play as an actor, so I really like the shades and the nuances of a particular character. There’s vast scope to present it in a very different way. As an actor, I am very excited. Hopefully, it’s going to be a very unique approach to it.”

The South Indian star explained that Ranbir Kapoor was already chosen for the lead role when he joined the team. It was a collective decision to cast Sai Pallavi. The team believed it was important to have actors from both the north and south. The director of Dangal specifically wanted the actress to play the role.

No other actor from the team has officially commented about it in the media, apart from Yash. Even filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari made no official announcements about it, but Ranbir and Sai’s first look from the film went viral, making fans eager to know more about it.