Neena Gupta’s latest series ‘Chumbak’ may be set in an urban Indian neighbourhood, but for the veteran actor, the world depicted in the show is also a reminder of the Delhi she grew up in. Recalling her childhood, Gupta said working on the series brought back memories of a time when neighbours were deeply involved in each other’s lives, from borrowing ingredients to spending hours at one another’s homes.“Working for Chumbak reminded me so much of my Delhi days, and my Delhi neighbourhood where it was not so much, but was almost like our neighbourhood in Chumbak. People used to come and ask for little jaaman for dahi or little sugar if suddenly the sugar was not there because there was no way of calling for it like today. When we were kids, we were always in our neighbours’ house, sometimes we would eat there also and come. I remember when I was in Rehgarpura one lady, our neighbour, I used to want her only to give me a bath. I don’t know why but I still remember that. It was a very interesting neighbourhood, interesting people; although sometimes there was too much interference and goosip, which we have in Chumbak also. It was very interesting and it just reminded me of that,” she said in an exclusive interaction with ETimes.For Gupta, that sense of community is markedly different from how neighbourhoods function today, when a phone call or message can replace the kind of everyday interaction that once brought people together. Her recollection of borrowing small household essentials and spending time at neighbours’ homes also reflects the closely knit environment that forms the backdrop of her latest work.The actor, who has never shied away from speaking her mind, has also been candid about another aspect of community life — people feeling entitled to comment on others’ personal choices. As she spoke about gossip, in another interview, Neena also advised on how to answer questions like “When are you getting married?”, Gupta revealed that she has little patience for such unsolicited advice.“Tumhare baap ka nahi khati (I am not dependent on you). What’s your problem? Did you get married or not?” she said during a CNN-News18 interaction.Gupta has similarly refused to let comments about her appearance dictate how she feels about herself. Recalling an incident when people mistook a saree-related wardrobe mishap for weight gain and even speculated that she was pregnant, she said, “I was wearing a saree earlier, and I adjusted it here like this, and it got a bit bulky around here, near my waist. People were like, ‘At my age, 60, am I pregnant?’”Rather than take offence, Gupta decided to turn the situation around and suggested that others facing similar comments could do the same. “So I advise people around me, tell them you’re pregnant if they bodyshame you,” she said.The actor has also spoken about how much society’s expectations of women have really changed. Discussing attitudes towards women’s dressing with NDTV, Gupta pointed out that there are still neighbourhoods in Delhi where women are expected to cover their faces with a veil.“I think it’s going to stay like this. It is not going to change. Not at all. Mark my words. Because society is such. Even today, nothing has really changed. Whatever has changed, it has changed only by a few percentage points. What has changed is that women have started earning,” she said.Meanwhile, ‘Chumbak’ which has now released on Netflix revolves around five families living in an urban Indian neighbourhood and features an ensemble cast including Deven Bhojani, Arjun Bijlani, Helly Shah, Sumeet Vyas, Manasi Parekh, Sumeet Raghvan, Sandeepa Dhar, Delnaaz Irani, Anant V. Joshi and Amyra Dastur.
