Veteran Bollywood actress Neena Gupta recently revealed that one of her friends had almost got her married to a gay man from Mumbai.

In her book titled Sach Kahun Toh, Neena Gupta has revealed that when she got pregnant with her daughter Masaba out of a short relationship with legendary West Indian cricketer Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards, one of her friends had tried to get her married to a gay banker from Mumbai’s Bandra.

As per teh excerpts of the book published in an India Today reprot, Neena said that her friend Sujoy Mitra informed that a gay banker wanted to get married to someone to avoid societal pressures. The banker was open to Neena Gupta saying that the unborn child was his but he would not be a part of her or her daughter’s lives. 

In her book, Gupta writes, “I laughed them off because I didn’t feel right about getting married just to avoid controversy. I knew I would have to answer very difficult questions. Being a public figure meant that our lives, mine and my child’s, would always be up for speculation. But I told myself I would cross that bridge when I come to it. Until then, I would hide behind loose clothes for as long as I could.”

Neena and cricketer Vivian Richards have a daughter together, Masaba Gupta. They were dating in the 1980s. Reportedly, Richards did not want to leave his wife and family for the actress, leaving Neena in a difficult situation. Neena Gupta had later married chartered accountant Vivek Mehra.

Pritish Nandy had stolen Masaba’s birth certificate

It is worth mentioning that it was controversial far-left journalist Pritish Nandy, who leaked the news about Neena Gupta carrying Vivian Richard’s child. As per Gupta, it was Nandy, who had ‘stolen’ the birth certificate of Neena Gupta’s daughter Masaba to publish in a report to ‘prove’ that Masaba was former West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards’ daughter.

Satish Kaushik had also offered to marry me, says Neena Gupta

Sharing another anecdote, Neena Gupta also revealed that several of her friends had offered to marry the actress while she was pregnant. Among them was her longtime friend and actor Satish Kaushik.

“A few friends suggested I get married to someone so my child would have a name and a father figure,” she wrote in her book.

Neena Gupta and Satish Kaushik, who studied together at National School of Drama, had worked together in several films and shared a good relationship. In her book, Neena Gupta wrote, “Satish Kaushik, such a wonderful friend, called and said, ‘Nancy (his nickname for me since college), don’t worry. If the child is born with dark skin, you can just say it’s mine and we’ll get married. Nobody will suspect a thing’.”

Sharing the incident, Neena Gupta added that she “politely refused” and got emotional. “I found this offer so sweet that I had tears in my eyes. The fact that he was ready to sacrifice his own chance at true love and happiness for me was very touching but I politely refused,” an expert from her memoir read.

Subash Ghai demanded she wears ‘padded bra’ for Choli Ke Peeche

Recalling another incident, Neena Gupta in her recently released autobiography, revealed interesting details about shooting the famous song and dance number Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai, from the 1993 film Khal Nayak directed by Subhash Ghai.

Sharing another excerpt from the book, Neena Gupta said that veteran filmmaker Subhash Ghai had demanded that she wear a ‘padded blouse’ for the song sequence, leaving her embarrassed.

“When I first heard the song, I knew it was catchy. But when Subhash Ghai told me what my role would be, I wasn’t so keen any more. I liked the fact that my part was sung by my friend Ila Arun, with whom I had acted in many films. But I couldn’t do it,” she wrote.

“They put me in a tribal Gujarati outfit and sent me to Subhash Ghai for approval. ‘No! No! No! No!’ he shouted. ‘Kuch bharo’. I was so embarrassed. In my opinion, he was referring to my choli and stating that it needed to be filled. It wasn’t anything personal, I knew. He had visualised something…bigger for the rendition. I didn’t shoot that day. But the next day I was presented to him in a different outfit, with a bra that was heavily padded, and he seemed satisfied. Subhash Ghai was very particular about what he wanted, which was why he was such a good director,” the actress wrote.

In her memoir, the acclaimed actress has written in detail about both her personal and professional struggles and shared interesting anecdotes from her life.