Neena Gupta: If Your Market Value Is Good Then You Will Get Lead Roles

Actor Neena Gupta has revealed that after her film debut with Saath Saath (1982), she thought that filmmakers would queue up outside her house to work with her. Neena also said that after four decades of her career, she is finally in a space where filmmakers consider her a bankable performer.

In an interview with the news agency PTI, Neena said, “There was a desire and dream… Like in Saath Saath, although I had a small comic role, I would think I have done such a good job that people would queue up outside my house (to work with me). But it is a different business. You cannot do a small comedy part in a film and expect to become a heroine because there is a thappa (tag) on you for small parts. We would yearn to get a good part and I never got it.”

Saath Saath is a drama written and directed by Raman Kumar and produced by Dilip Dhawan. Apart from Neena, it stars Farooque Shaikh, Deepti Naval, Satish Shah, Rakesh Bedi, AK Hangal, and Iftekhar among others.

Talking about her projects and 'market value' now, Neena also said, "This is a big deal for me. This is what I wanted throughout my career. You need that break where your film, in which you have a pivotal role, becomes a hit. That never happened to me in films, it happened on TV. When Badhaai Ho, in which I had a solid role, became successful, things changed. Then suddenly I became a very good actor. My market value rose. It is a business... If your market value is good then you will get lead roles.”

Neena was currently seen in the recently released film Shiv Shastri Balboa. Helmed by Ajayan Venugopalan, the film also stars Anupam Kher, Jugal Hansraj, Nargis Fakhri and Sharib Hashmi in pivotal roles. It released in theatres on February 10.