Book Review: ‘Sach Kahun Toh’ An autobiography by Neena Gupta
Book Review : ‘Sach Kahun Toh’ An autobiography by Neena Gupta
About the Book :
In Sach Kahun Toh, actor Neena Gupta chronicles her extraordinary personal and professional journey-from her childhood days in Delhi’s Karol Bagh, through her time at the National School of Drama, to moving to Bombay in the 1980s and dealing with the struggles to find work. It details the big milestones in her life, her unconventional pregnancy and single parenthood, and a successful second innings in Bollywood. A candid, self-deprecating portrait of the person behind the persona, it talks about her life’s many choices, battling stereotypes, then and now, and how she may not be as unconventional as people think her to be.
Book Review :
Neena Gupta has always been an intriguing figure who was open about her life choices but not many knew what led her to chose those untrodden paths. Hence, I wanted to read the book very much since I saw the promos, and was happy to buy one copy from amazon.in
Writing an autobiography is always a challenge for any person especially when the person is at the peak of his/her career but the advantage is that at the peak only people are interested to know about the journey of the person. So this was the best time for Neena Gupta to bring her autobiography, after the success of her movie ‘Badhai Hon’.
So what one expects from the autobiography of Neena Gupta, the ‘rebel’ of 90s ? As Neena says that most people would be interested to know the juicy stories of her life especially her much-talked pregnancy but there are many aspects of her life which people do not know. In the book, she opens about her upbringing, talks about the life of her parents and her father’s second wife, and also talks about her various relationships, her first marriage, and her pregnancy. Most of the places she is very open and candid, and at certain places very guarded. Overall I would rate the book 4/5 for bringing most aspects of her life in the book, though I would have loved to know more about her relationship with Vivian Richards of which she has given only a few glimpses.
The book is written in simple English which is good as it’s an autobiography and not a piece of literature. The writing has a flow which keeps you hooked till end. First few chapters are very elaborated but going towards the end, I felt it was hurried. The use of Hindi could have been limited but cannot complain as the title of the book itself is in Hindi. Editing could have been better as a few parts of the content is repeated. Also the structure of storytelling could have been better, at some places, it was difficult to understand the timeline.
Over all a good book to read to know the person and her journey, but I think cost of the book (Rs 599 Hardcover) is quite high for what the book offers.
Rakhi Sunil Kumar
About the book
- Publisher : Penguin eBury Press (14 June 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0670095273
- ISBN-13 : 978-0670095278
