Neena Gupta

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r elementary schooling at the Bal Bharti School and secondary schooling at Vidya Bhawan. She went on to do a BA from Janki Devi Mahavidyalaya , and MA in Sanskrit from Delhi University. She also earned an MPhil from the same University for her thesis on ‘Stage Techniques in Sanskrit Drama: Theory and Practice’. Midway through her PhD in Sanskrit, she gave up her research due to difference of opinion between her guide and her.

She was active in the theatre scene while at University, forming a close friendship with fellow actor-director Satish Kaushik, who encouraged her to follow his lead and join the National School of Drama. Gupta enrolled at NSD in 1977, studying under the tutelage of such greats as Ebrahim Alkazi and B.V. Karanth and graduated top of her class in 1980. Her contemporaries at the institute include Alok Nath and Annu Kapoor.

Gupta has made appearances in several international films, such as Gandhi (1982), in which she played the niece of Mahatma Gandhi, and Merchant Ivory films, The Deceivers (1988), Mirza Ghalib (1989), In Custody (1993), and Cotton Mary (1999). She also made an impression in Indian parallel cinema such as Mandi (1983), Rihaee (1988), Drishti (1990) and Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda (1992). These performances further established her profile in Indian movies alongside her arthouse film contemporaries Rekha, Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil and Dimple Kapadia. Despite this, Gupta never had a major commercial hit and found it difficult to find more dramatic roles:

Her appearance in Hindi movies was especially noted in the satirical movie, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in which she played the role of a secretary to Pankaj Kapoor. She also starred along with Madhuri Dixit in Khalnayak (1993); she was featured in the popular song "Choli Ke Peeche" in the movie. She has made television movies, Lajwanti and Bazar Sitaram (1993), which won the 1993 National Film Award for Best First Non-Feature Film. In 1994, Gupta's breakthrough came in the acclaimed drama Woh Chokri as a recently widowed daughter-in-law; this performance won her a National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2017, Gupta made headlines when she shared a post on Instagram asking for work: "I live in Mumbai and working as a good actor looking for good parts to play." Fed up with the lack of roles being written for middle-aged women in Bollywood, Gupta later reflected, "After that Instagram post, I got many offers -- five, in fact, and I accepted all of them. There is no shame in saying you don't have work." One of the offers she accepted was Amit Sharma's comedy-drama Badhaai Ho (2018), which emerged as the ninth highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2018. Her performance as a middle-aged pregnant mother earned widespread critical acclaim, with various critics and publications citing her performance as the film's highlight and one of the best of her career. Rajeev Masand credited Gupta for bringing "real empathy" to the part, while Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV described her portrayal as "outstandingly measured." Acting opposite Ayushmann Khurana as her son, Gupta received various accolades for her performance including the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress, the Screen Award for Best Actress (Critics), and the BFJA Award for Best Supporting Actor - Female. At 60, she became the second-eldest Best Actress nominee in Filmfare Award history after Sharmila Tagore.

In 2020, Gupta appeared in Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari's sports comedy-drama Panga, and has reunited with Ayushmann Khurana for Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, with the latter earning her a Filmfare Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Gupta appeared alongside Manoj Bajpayee and Sakshi Tanwar in the thriller 'Dial 100'.