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Woman Up S3 EXCLUSIVE: Neha Dhupia recalls being asked to step down from projects due to her pregnancy
On the second episode of Woman Up season 3, we conversed with Neha Dhupia Bedi.
At Pinkvilla, we are all about celebrating womanhood and entertainment. In season 3 of Woman Up, we will be connecting with exceptional women in the industry. On the second episode of the segment, we have with us none other than former beauty queen, actress, host, and a proud mom, Neha Dhupia Bedi.
We asked Neha to shed some light on how she thinks things are changing for pregnant women in the film industry, with actors like herself and Kareena Kapoor Khan, working while they are expecting. Replying to this Neha appreciated the people who make way for pregnant women to work in the industry, She said, “I feel the game is changing, as far as women in the business are concerned. But you have got to create that work. You have to go out there and ask for it. Heads off to Kareena and what she’s done and I really respect her, but also hats off to people who make way for pregnant women to work.”
Neha further adds that there were times when she was asked to step down from a project because she was pregnant. The actress said, “Like you know, I had stuff that was coming my way, but I was asked to step down because they were like ‘okay, fine, you’re pregnant, you can’t do it’ and you’re like ‘okay, maybe it’s not the requirement of the role and you can’t figure it out, and you just got to wait and you part ways amicably.”
Neha then goes on to talk about her experience with the makers of her film A Thursday and how they reacted to news about her pregnancy. “I was literally sitting here and I met my director Behzad Khambata who has directed A Thursday. He hired me as a cop who wasn’t pregnant, and then the second wave happened and there was a five-month gap. So, I went back to him, and I told him that, listen, I really want to do this film and I am pregnant and he called Ronnie Screwvala and both of them took a beat. And I still remember, my call with my producer was on face-time, with another producer of mine, Pashan and believe it or not, they both said that, ‘Are you trying to tell us cops don’t get pregnant or female cops don’t get pregnant?’” said the actress.
She could not help but appreciate the makers for the way they dealt with the situation. Neha exclaimed, “Hats off! These are men! We don’t have to always say that it’s about the woman. You know, this bunch of boys, or bunch of men, who are making this film, who have taken it up, and who’ve would not thought for a second, and kept me in the project. I am not even sure it has happened before in the Indian film industry to have an actress who is eight months pregnant, to be cast as eight months pregnant.”
Watch Neha Dhupia talk about her pregnancy and A Thursday below:
When we applauded her for deciding to work at such a challenging stage of pregnancy, she could not emphasize enough how difficult it was. “Tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough! I just can’t say it as many times. I cannot tell you the technicalities of being eight months pregnant and playing a cop, and having Covid. We had just come out of the second wave and I just wanted to do it and the support I got from everyone, was just something else,” said Neha.
We also asked Neha about the projects she was asked to step down from due to her pregnancy. She replied, “I was asked to step down from other projects as well, but then, you know, you feel bad, and if there are three people who said ‘no’, and there was one person who said ‘yes’, I feel that I may have paved the way for women to not take such a long sabbatical. Women who go and have babies come back to work – yes. Women who have continued to have babies, work, pregnant – yes. But to be able to be on screen, play a character, and be like you know, ‘it’ll be nice’. I am hoping that this kind of, opens a little door or window somewhere.”
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