Mumbai, Sep 24 (IANS): Leading fashion designer Masaba Gupta, who ventured into acting with her streaming show ‘Masaba Masaba’, has shared that her mom, the veteran actress Neena Gupta, dissuaded her from taking up the profession of acting early in her daughter’s career.

Masaba shared the reason behind her mom’s thought process stating that the market forces would put her in a box as an actress as the industry used to function differently back in time.

In the podcast ‘BiEauty Banter’ hosted by Queenie Singh, Masaba said, “She didn't allow me to be an actor. Okay. Which is why, so I remember there's Anupam Kher's acting school in Mumbai. They share a wall with SNDT College. And I said, I want to go and study acting because I want to be an actor. And she said, don't even think about it. You know, you have this look which is very artsy, international, and almost not Indian. You'll get put in a box. And the industry at the time was very different”.

The designer-actress further mentioned, “So she said, you'll be frustrated. Do something that you have to apply your brain to, that you can do for life. And she said, oh, there's SNDT right there. Do you want to go give it a shot? The admissions were open. I went there and I gave my, I put in my paper, filled a form. And my test grade marks were all they needed to take that form in. So, luckily they were good and they took it in. They said, yeah, come and do the entrance exam in a week”.

Masaba also spoke about how nepotism is not just limited to the film industry, and is there in every industry or profession.

She said, “Nepotism exists in every industry. Lawyer's son becomes a lawyer. Doctor's son becomes a doctor. And their father recommends them. That is the way of the world. Not just in India, but everywhere. Yes, sometimes I think opportunities are misplaced because of nepotism in Bollywood”.

“But it's the way of the world. It's just that it's such a public industry that you're able to see it. It happens everywhere”, she added.