Masaba Gupta was first called ***** by someone when she was 12 years old. She went home and asked her father, West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards, what it meant and how he should answer. “He told me to slap the person and I did,” she says, recalling how it became a catalyst for conversations between parents about what they should and shouldn’t do to their child. needed. Decades ago, Richards’ team had disappointed Tony Greig on the field when the then England cricket captain said he would ‘grovel’ the West Indies.
“I’ve been embroiled in controversy from the day I was born,” Masaba, now 33, says in the hit Netflix docudrama Masaba, Masaba, She is referring to the fact that people still remember that an award-winning actress mother Neena Gupta gave birth to her as a single woman in 1989, and always puts it in her prime when talking about the two women. used as a reference point. The two play fictional versions of themselves in the two-season hit show, which begins with Masaba’s divorce. In the air-kissed, party line-toting celebrity world they live in, their feminist values — and willingness to freely express these values — are refreshing.
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Masaba (meaning princess in Swahili) says that “once it really got to her” when a profile of her in a prestigious financial publication began: ‘Masaba Gupta, the beloved child of Vivian Richards and Neena Gupta…’ and then Go ahead give details of her many successes. “After all these years, somehow it’s still part of my identity,” she says. So, he decided to do something about it.
“I’m not someone who sits on the fence. I’ll face the conflict and resolve it,” Masaba says. photo credit: special arrangement
in charge of the story
The name of her newly launched beauty line, lovechild masaba, takes us full circle. You’ll see the words flashing outside many of her eight storefronts across the country. “For a large part of my life, the love child has been leading the story,” she said in an Instagram video ahead of the launch. “I decided to own it.” Honestly, this is 2009’s pink . Has the most creative kick for the big city patriarchy since tights Campaign.
19: Successful career woman and love for her many achievements since stepping into the fashion business on TV shows is also her way of pushing people to look beyond baby labels; 51% acquisition of his company by Aditya Birla Group for ₹90 crore; Multiple collaborations with everyone from Lewis and Samsung to TV shows game of Thrones, A jewelery line and much more.
Read | Masaba Gupta’s $1 Million Story
The idea of owning the descriptor and, more importantly, came to her last year when she was Googling herself. “I realized that 80-90% of the articles presented me that way,” she says. “We always put women in these boxes and now I’m saying ‘This is what I plan to do with the box you put me in.'”
It is precisely this unapologetic quality that drives young women to sit and listen. They tell him that they are related. Masaba says on the show that she knows what it’s like to “look in the mirror and not like anything”. Growing up, she struggled to find clothes that fit. She praised traditional beauty standards and beautiful, slim frames on strong girls with athletic bodies all her life — and turned this anger on its head to build an enviable fashion empire. Many of the models she uses do not conform to mainstream beauty standards.
Masaba with her mother, Neena Gupta | photo credit: special arrangement
He gets what young women go through – in love, with their bodies and because of the rules society expects them to follow. Through her life, work, and unconventional choices, she encourages her young followers to trust their gut, not settle. She shows them her beauty.
motivator in conflict
Like his father, he is a fighter. “I’m not someone who sits on the fence. I’ll face and resolve conflict. I’m someone who likes to be on top of things on the ball. It definitely comes from my father.” ,” she says. She is a fierce role model even at 70. “I want people who look like me to know that we can achieve great things,” she said in a recent speech on Instagram shared on.
season 2 Masaba, Masaba Her phone ends with a glowing ‘Dad’ – this is Richards’ first ‘appearance’ on the show. “I really hope that part of my life can become something I can share in future seasons,” Masaba says. “We’ve barely scratched the surface.”
The author is a journalist on the editorial board of Article 14. She is the co-founder of India Love Project.