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Sach Kahun Toh book review: Neena Gupta’s candour makes this autobiography engaging & relatable
In Sach Kahun Toh, Neena Gupta touches upon many known and unknown aspects of her life, including about her much publicised affair with Sir Vivian Richards.
Over the years, we have all known and appreciated Neena Gupta’s candidness. The actress-filmmaker is not known for mincing words, and that’s exactly what she has done in her autobiography Sach Kahun Toh. Though she has been empathetic towards a few who played an important role in her life but even hurt her at some point, so she has refrained from using their real names. She has given three reasons for doing the same - Gupta doesn’t want the person’s family members to suddenly see them in a different light, the lawyer’s advised her to do so ‘to be safe’, and third Gupta has forgotten some names herself. That’s really the tone of the book too - honest, candid, fun yet sensitive and mature.
In Sach Kahun Toh, Gupta touches upon many known and unknown aspects of her life. While she has spoken about her much publicised affair with former West Indies cricketer Sir Vivian Richards and about the media frenzy that surrounded her daughter Masaba’s birth, the Badhaai Ho actress has also given an insight into her early life, struggling days, her personal and professional regrets, her continuous efforts to find validation with a leading part, and about her mother (Shakuntala Gupta), father (Roop Narain Gupta) and brother’s (Pankaj Gupta) journey’s which indeed are my favourite parts from the book. She's probably the most frank in these portions, which makes them more relatable too. Here you really connect with Neena Gupta - the person, and not the actress.
In the chapter ‘How I met Vivian’, Neena Gupta shares an interesting background story about shooting for JP Dutta’s Batwara in Jaipur, finding a friend in co-star Vinod Khanna and then finally meeting Richards at a dinner party hosted by the Maharani of Jaipur. She has presented this chapter of her life with a lot of respect, refusing to go overboard with too many details as she wasn’t willing to invite more media attention to it. Having said that, Gupta has addressed that phase of her life, but for me the most attractive part about the chapter is how beautifully she has expressed her love for Masaba by the end of it, despite all the hardships that she had faced during and after her pregnancy. “Masaba has been worth everything and more,” she says.
Sach Kahun Toh also introduces you to another side of Neena Gupta. While she is often considered to be candid, brave and bold, in the book she also comes across as someone who lacked faith in herself and her talent, and may be also a bit gullible at times - especially in the part where she keeps giving another chance to her philandering boyfriend. But that’s how humans are, and we all have our share of regrets, mistakes and insecurities, don’t we? However, it's actually these candid confessions made by Gupta that makes the book so relatable. More often than not, you’ll invariably find yourself in her shoes.
The autobiography also gives you a sneak peek into both sides of the film industry. About its competitive and manipulative side with some power hungry and nasty individuals at the top, but it also presents the friendlier side of it with some being by your side when you need them the most, especially in a fast paced city like Mumbai. Anecdotes about Gupta’s long standing friendship with Soni Razdan and Satish Kaushik are spread all across the book, and some of them are truly heartwarming. Though I did feel in certain parts that Gupta was holding back, especially while talking about the uglier side of the business. I missed the candour in those portions.
Having read a few pompous autobiographies in the past, Neena Gupta’s Sach Kahun Toh is quite refreshing, engaging and to the point. If you plan to pick it up only for the ‘juicy’ bits then you might be disappointed, but if you are willing to know the person a lot more then this autobiography is highly recommended.
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