Neena Gupta won the National Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Sooraj Barjatya’s Uunchai. The film veteran wore a pink saree and teamed it up with a halter neck pink blouse. She completed her look with matching flowers in her hair. Neena Gupta’s daughter Masaba, who is expecting her first child, wrote an endearing message for her mom on her big win. Sharing pictures from the ceremony, Masaba wrote, “Will tell my baby NaniJi is the coolest and was winning National Awards since 1994 with flowers in her hair.” The comments section was swamped with congratulatory messages. Dia Mirza wrote, “Most amazing Naani.” Bhumi Pednekar posted an emoji. Tisca Chopra wrote, “Neenaji is just love.” Take a look:
Sharing about how she got the offer for Uunchai, Neena Gupta said on the red carpet, “For the last 30 years, I wanted to work with Sooraj Barjatya. When he called me, I couldn’t believe it. I acted with all the dhurandhar (brilliant) actors in the film. It’s a special film.” On being asked the characters she wants to portray on screen, Neena Gupta replied, “There are 2-3 thousand characters I want to play.”
Speaking of the National Awards, Rishab Shetty (Best Actor), Nithya Menen and Manasi Parekh (Best Actress), Sooraj Barjatya (Best Director), Neena Gupta (Best Supporting Actress) and Pawan Malhotra (Best Supporting Actor) won big among others. Rishab Shetty won the award for his performance in Kantara while Nithya and Manashi shared the prize for their performances in the films Tiruchitrabalam and Kutch Express respectively. Neena Gupta received the prize for the film Uunchai, which also brought Best Director award for Sooraj Barjatya. Pawan Malhotra won the award for Fouji. The Dada Saheb Phalke Award, India’s highest film honour, went to film veteran Mithun Chakraborty this year.