Neha makes comeback

The petite, pretty and talcum-fresh Neha who was introduced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Kareeb is back. She figures in Sanjay Gupta’s Alibaug as a prominent part of the vast cast. She had a blast shooting for the film. “I’ve always been passionate about acting. But I couldn’t go role-hunting from door to door at producers’ homes. Maybe that was a drawback in me. After a while when the right roles stopped coming, I withdrew from acting and was just happy being Ms Manoj Bajpai,” she said.

The couple made it legal in April 2006. “But it didn’t really matter. Manoj and I have known one another for ten years. I met him right after Kareeb was released. And since then we’ve been together. We’re individuals and yet a compatible couple. Now we’ve recently moved into our new home. Our own new home, just imagine!” she exulted.

House-proud Neha, now known as Shabana Raza, can’t stop raving about her home. “I’ve done up the house piece by piece.And I still can’t believe its ours! Manoj and I don’t need to socialise or go out to feel happy. We share long evenings of tea, silences and warm vibes right in our house. Nothing gives us more joy than to be together in our house.”
“I’m in no hurry. Yes, I’m passionate about acting. But I won’t run after work. I never have. I’ll wait for the right opportunities to come my way. Like Alibaug. It came to me when Sanjay Gupta asked Manoj about me while they were shooting for Dus Kahaniyaan. Gupta wanted to check me out to see if I suited the role of one of Sanjay Dutt’s students. I guess I fit the bill. Shooting Alibaug has been the most pleasurable work of my career. Not that I’ve done so much work,” she jokes.

Tell her that people were wondering where she was and she quickly retorts, “Come on, no one was missing me. I don’t have a body of work. I wish I did. Hopefully with so many kinds of films happening now I can find my space in cinema . Otherwise there’s always the space that I share with Manoj. Nothing can equal that.” Neha has now reverted to her original name. “I was always Shabana Raza. And that’s how close family and friends have always known me. Neha was never me. It’s too delicate a name to describe me. I’m far stronger.”