Actress Neena Gupta, who recently released her autobiography titled ‘Sach Kahun Toh’, shared an anecdote in her memoir about how her friend, actor Satish Karthik had proposed to marry her when she had been pregnant with her daughter, designer Masaba Gupta.
Neena Gupta got pregnant when she was in a relationship in the ’80s with former cricketer Sir Viv Richards, and raised her daughter single-handedly.
In an interview to media sources, Satish Kaushik said he has known Neena since 1975 and that she has a great friendship with her. He explained that he had offered to marry her mainly because he cared for her as a friend and that he did not want her to “feel alone.”
Satish was quoted as saying, “I used to appreciate the fact that a girl at that time decided to have a child out of wedlock. As a true friend, I simply stood by her and gave her confidence. Whatever you are reading in the memoir, it was all an expression of my affection for her as a friend. I was concerned about not letting her feel alone. At the end of the day, that’s what friends are for, right? As mentioned in the book, when I offered to marry her, it was a mix of humour, concern, respect, and support for my best friend in her time of need.”
Satish added that Neena was overwhelmed with emotion after he asked her whether she would marry him. “I told her, ‘Main hoon na, tu chinta kyu karti hai (I am here for you, you don’t have to worry).’ She was moved by the gesture and was in tears. From that day onwards, our friendship grew stronger,” he was quoted as saying.
In yet another revelation, Neena also admitted in her autobiography that another friend suggested she marry a gay man when she was pregnant with Masaba. The logic behind the suggestion had reportedly been that, while Neena could be allowed to say that Masaba was his daughter, he would not have necessarily been a “part of their lives.”
Neena also spoke about another incident in her autobiography, where a well-known filmmaker had reportedly made crude remarks about her in front of a film crew after she refused to sleep with him.
She explained that she wanted to name and shame the director, but her friends advised her against it. She added that she did not name him in her book as the publishers warned her of legal consequences if she did so.
Talking to media sources, Neena said she had not spoken about the incident earlier because she had been just a “struggling actor,” and that people might blame her if she spoke against “popular” people. She was quoted as saying, “This film director told me in front of everybody, ‘Cheezon ko istemaal nahi karo toh zung lag jaata hai (If you don’t use things, they begin to rust),’ because I was not sleeping with him. I kind of refused indirectly. He said it in front of everybody, all the actors and everybody (sic).”
Neena further said that one of her friends, whom she had confided in about this, said a lot of “nasty things.” She said, “I was very angry. I came back and told my friends, ‘I want to tell the press that this is what he said to me.’ And my friends said, ‘Who will listen to you? He is a big name. Nobody will listen to you. What’s the point? Tumhari badnaami hogi (Your name will only be besmirched)’.”
She added, “Phir bhi (Even then), I told somebody and then he said some very nasty things about me. Then, my friends said, ‘See, this is what is going to happen. It will become very dirty. So, just keep quiet. When your time comes, you say.’ This is my time so I am saying it.”