Uber cool and calmly candid, with a subtle sense of humour that’s unmissable — that was Masaba Gupta while talking about love, life and work at YFLO Calcutta’s inaugural event for the session 2024-25, held recently, at Taj Bengal’s Crystal hall. In the event, titled ‘Secrets and Splendor with Masaba’, would-be mom Masaba shared her journey of wearing many hats and her mantras in life that help her lead a life in the superwoman style that she does. Excerpts:
GROWING-UP YEARS AND INSPIRATION
My mother (Neena Gupta) played the role of both a mother and a father to me. I think I got the best of what a single parent could possibly give a child. She was working and was also trying to make sure that I had good friends, had the comforts of life and travelled. I think it is the best of what she could do. Women are multitaskers by nature and give more love and care. I have always seen that she did her best as a working mother and I hope I can do justice to her legacy. People keep asking me how I am the way I am, I think it comes from inherently spending time with a mother like that. I have seen her go to work, return, and spend post-school hours with me. I have seen her be an actor, producer and director on the sets, and my mother. So, it automatically showed me what life could be and that I have to be prepared for it. People see the worst in it but I see the best.
THE MEN IN HER LIFE
I look 80 per cent like my biological father (Viv Richards). I have his temper, to begin with, but I also have his strive and ability to put on blinders and go forward. My relationship with him has evolved into so many different things over the years. When I was younger, I was very scared of him because he has this legendary personality, and wherever we went, there was this enigma around him. Then he was a mentor in my life and now we share a very close bond. As one grows older, they become softer but I have become even more aggressive. So, he was wondering what he did wrong! But apart from that I have a very special relationship with my stepfather (Vivek Mehra), too.
Nobody in my family is actually into business. My mother is like ‘We don’t know where we have picked you up from and from where you get the drive to run a business and have business acumen. You could do something in arts or creative.’ It is because she thinks I get too stressed out. I get that from my stepfather. He was an ex-partner in PWC and has been a huge force in guiding my entrepreneurial journey. He is always on my speed dial. My husband Satyadeep (Mishra) is a different creature altogether. He was a lawyer in Delhi for 10 years and then decided to become an actor, quitting everything. He rides his motorcycle now, that’s his passion. When he is free, he acts! He is mostly chilling.
ON NEPOTISM
It would probably apply to me if I wanted to be an actor first. But since I became a designer first, I am self-made. I did not choose either of my parents’ professions. But I would like to say something about nepotism. If you are a lawyer and your child is a lawyer then you would do the best for them so that the child gets the best opportunities. It is just the basic principle. We have seen business families running for generations, you will not give it to a neighbour! In Bollywood, it is possible to get one film but talent takes you far and then the audience decides whether they want to see you or not. The king’s son won’t be the king. He will be the king who deserves it.
ON THE FASHION INDUSTRY
I think the fashion industry now is contributing to the realism that was missing when I used to see fashion shows as a kid. Brands have social media now to use their voice. Nobody has beautiful glass-like skin all the time and perfect bodies. And that is what we should all campaign. We are doing it through Lovechild and House of Masaba. When I did my bridal last year, I was thinking whom I could use as a face and all I could think of was Kareena Kapoor Khan. Everyone was telling me not to do it. She is a mother of two, she is in her 40s. I don’t think anyone could do in that campaign what Kareena did because she was so herself.
In bridal fashion, I felt that gap in realism. I think there’s still a gap among the friends and family of the bride who want something more accessible and comfortable. The young brides today want pieces where they feel like themselves. If you look at the bridal images from way back, the ghunghat and earrings. I was like where is the person? Where’s the bride in all of these? Today the bride is saying I want to wear less jewellery or I want to repurpose my mom’s jewellery or I want to wear a lehnga with some accessories attached. People have become a lot more smart. They are looking for jewellery not just to pass on but something that they can wear, too. But we are not the masses, we are point one per cent. But we hope what we are starting passes down to the masses. The masses still believe that what you are earning all your life needs to be spent to get your daughter married. But we are slowly getting there. If you see bridal pictures today, earlier they used to look down and now they are all posing. It is a great change.
ON MENTAL HEALTH
It can be so damaging to feel all the time that the grass is greener on the other side. For starters, get off social media. I think you have to keep that filter between yourself and your social media. It can be so damaging to mental health to think that someone has better hair, a better day or a better husband! But nobody has it that way. Mental health to me is a very internal journey. I have been to therapists but I haven’t found something that has helped me so much. I can’t apply what they are telling me because it is like an outsider telling me what to do without really knowing where I come from. For me, it is important to take time off from everything that I am doing.
Bombay as a city can be very claustrophobic. You are stuck in a jam in between running somewhere; you don’t have outdoors, no access to culture. It is like going to work and coming back home. For me, it is about spending more time outdoors and being vocal about who I am. I think therapy happens when you share it with the world. Share like-minded stories with like-minded people. If I am going through a rough patch at work, I talk to my mentors or someone who has been in a position that I have. Most days my mother is my therapy session. Sometimes it is nice and they truly have your best interest at heart. I talk to my friends, mum’s friends and the girls at work. When you talk to them you realise you have so much better. Then you become grateful. I do a lot of self-talk, too. My father used to do that as a cricketer.
ON BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR
If you have family by your side, you are the luckiest person to run a business. Speak less, work more. Let action do the talking. Share less. Sometimes it is okay to give up. If something is not working, give it up and try something else. We get so stuck in our heads. It takes some level of self-awareness and being self-critical and say I am not good at this. I am going to give something else a shot or I am going to get someone to do it for me. I think this attitude of never say die or never give up. Sometimes people don’t have what it takes and sometimes you have to give up. You have to be realistic.
It was 2015, I wondered if I could just marry commerce with the creative. It would be great for my own business. The balance of creativity and commerce is very important. However, if you are not like that it is always great to do a tie-up with a corporate. With me, when I tied up in 2022, it was that much more fast-paced with so many people helping. If you don’t have an appetite, it can be very suffocating.
ON ACTING
It is totally genetic. My first scene on the first day of Masaba Masaba was with mum and I was dying. I asked her if I could rehearse the lines with her. She said ‘No, do your own thing. I am not your acting coach.’ Then she messaged me in the morning asking if I would want lunch on set. The whole scene was without dialogue. And she was like, ‘What are you doing, get a coach.’ It is not just genetic but also my love for being on camera because I wanted to be on the camera for so long. The fact that I got the opportunity… I am so glad.
LIFE’S MANTRA
Put your blinkers on and go for it. Be extremely self-aware. There are 10 more things that I can do today but I want to take a step back. Don’t do things only for an interesting dinner-table conversation. Let the action do the job. I think cutting the emotional chord with the outside world is very important. I think we attach a lot of emotions with everything… place the emotion with close friends and family only. It is so important for us to just cut that chord. Nobody cares.