{"id":7530,"date":"2016-07-25T17:02:39","date_gmt":"2016-07-25T11:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=7530"},"modified":"2016-07-25T17:02:39","modified_gmt":"2016-07-25T11:32:39","slug":"neena-gupta-middle-age-romance-chemistry-multiverse-bollywood-badhaai-ho-panchayat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=7530","title":{"rendered":"The Multiverse of Middle-Age Chemistry and How Neena Gupta Created it"},"content":{"rendered":"\nY<\/span>ou know what\u2019s better than a trailblazer? A trailblazer that doesn\u2019t behave or act like one. Neena Gupta has always been a trailblazer, but you wouldn\u2019t actively notice it because she does it with that humble and genial smile. If you think about it, she has done more \u2018trailblazer-y\u2019 things than your average \u2018all talk no walk\u2019 celeb. I imagine, if someone were to bring this recurring theme to her notice, she\u2019d probably shrug her shoulders and not make a big deal out of it. \n\nRefreshingly lacking in Bollywood tact, I remember being absolutely gobsmacked, when in an interview, she openly spoke about how her industry friends would forget to offer her roles she\u2019d be perfect in. Perhaps it was disappointments such as these, that led her to get on to Instagram and type this message a few years ago \u2013 \u2018I live in Mumbai and working as a good actor looking for good parts to play.\u2019 But it\u2019s not just the Gupta in real life, but also the Gupta in reel life who has revolutionised modern acting by introducing the idea of \u2018chemistry\u2019 to middle-aged lives.\n\n

Neena Gupta has always been a trailblazer, but you wouldn\u2019t actively notice it because she does it with that humble and genial smile.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nA couple of years after the post, in Badhaai Ho<\/em>, Neena Gupta won our hearts as the 50-something pregnant wife and redefined middle-aged romance in Bollywood. In Amazon Prime\u2019s Panchayat<\/em>, like in Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar<\/em>, Gupta shares a unique chemistry with her co-star Raghubir Yadav. In conservative small-town India, a pregnancy at that age can be scandalous! \u2018I\u2019m so jealous,\u2019 giggles a friend in Badhaai Ho<\/em> when the news of her pregnancy breaks out. It\u2019s the kind of suburban, small-town lives we grow up with. Our ideas of love, of romance restricted by the functional value of age. Ideas that Badhaai Ho<\/em> confronts. But none of which could have been possible without the wrenching, almost too good to be true chemistry between Gupta and Rao.\n\n

It\u2019s not just the Gupta in real life, but also the Gupta in reel life who has revolutionised modern acting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nTheir relationship is tender, romantic but not in a \u2018Bollywoodish\u2019 way and one filled with mutual respect and foremost, friendship. It\u2019s something that Bollywood and our industry has coached us to seek in younger people. Actors and actresses with flawless bodies who inspire lust to precede any vague notion of love they are trying to communicate. In Badhaai Ho<\/em>, the fact that the protagonist is pregnant, hence sexually active, is a matter of great embarrassment for the couple. Which is why the romance in the film is hesitant, almost ashamed about its existence. In Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar<\/em>, Gupta occupies the second berth, but not without retaining a dignified foothold in the relationship. In Panchayat<\/em>, the two quarrel, bicker and yet have an unsaid respect for each other\u2019s place. Gupta is more reckless and stubborn of the two but even in their banter, there is something disarming that tells us these two enjoy every moment of being around each other.\n\n

Her work ushers in an era of middle-age romance that we had not known before.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nRecently, my friend threw a party for her parents\u2019 50th anniversary. A couple of drinks down, her dad took the mic, bent on one knee with the support of a chair, and serenaded his shocked wife with a couple of old Hindi songs. He then went on to put his arm around her and give a never-ending, affectionate kiss on the cheek. He had his arm around her often during the party and they giggled like newlyweds, as old friends teased them loudly. My friend wasn\u2019t amused and ranted \u2013 \u2018Eww\u2026added to my list of things I\u2019ll have to talk to my therapist about.\u2019\n\nAdmittedly, I felt a little embarrassed as well. We simply have been told that love and its language ceases to exist as a script beyond a certain age. Do we really stop loving, or do we simply stop expressing? In retrospect, I feel happy for the couple, hopeful that I too have the same kind of affection in my life when I reach their age.\n\n

It\u2019s her multiverse I feel, and we are just living in it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nIn Panchayat<\/em> the language of love isn\u2019t gooey tokens of promises kept or debts paid. It is in the skirmishes that do not last, the control that each lets the other have, the mistakes that both make and collectively moan over. They make for a solid team, and often fight for each other\u2019s ideas to be heard. Panchayat<\/em> isn\u2019t exactly woke, nor tries to be, but even in the hands of this lovable middle-aged couple, the show embraces a progressive form of love \u2013 where you can say what you like and still return to be friends, companions, lovers and family.\n\nIf you follow Gupta on social media, you\u2019ll see her, often in shorts talking about life and saying wise things. We are not used to women in their 50s rocking such a hip wardrobe. Neena Gupta does this from such an unassuming, \u2018what\u2019s the big deal\u2019 space, that I invariably look at her as a role model. Her work onscreen, her ability to work alongside other middle-aged actors and usher in an era of middle-age romance that we had not known before, is even more inspiring. It\u2019s her multiverse I feel, and we are just living in it. Give us a middle-aged love triangle Ms. Gupta. If anyone can, you can.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neena Gupta has over the last few years, done some incredible work but it is her chemistry with co-stars like Raghubir Yadav and Gajraj Rao, that has opened both our eyes and imagination to the possibility of romance and chemistry between middle-aged characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[6670,141,11704,6671,893,224,2320,11705,5350,11706,2383,1466,11707],"class_list":["post-7530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","tag-badhaai-ho","tag-bollywood","tag-chemistry","tag-gajraj-rao","tag-indian-tv","tag-love","tag-middle-age","tag-middle-age-romance","tag-neena-gupta","tag-panchayat","tag-raghubir-yadav","tag-romance","tag-sandeep-aur-pinky-faraar"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Multiverse of Middle-Age Chemistry and How Neena Gupta Created it<\/title>\n<meta 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