Neena Gupta has been working in Hindi movies since the early 1980s, but despite winning a few notable awards, including the National Film Award, she never got the limelight that she felt she deserved in those days. Since television was in its infancy at the time, Neena also dabbled in a few television shows, and landed in the hit 1990s sitcom, Shriman Shrimati, where one of the leading roles was played by Archana Puran Singh. In a recent interview, Neena opened up about replacing Archana on the show as the latter went on her maternity break, but the makers later unceremoniously fired Neena without informing her.

In a chat with Zoom, Neena recalled the incident from the hit TV show that aired for almost four years. This was a weekly show which was led by Archana, Rakesh Bedi, Reema Lagoo and Jatin Kanakia. “There was a lot of injustice done to me on Shriman Shrimati,” Neena recalled and added, “You don’t know what happened to me! My god!”

Story continues below.
Subscribe to see fewer ads.

Archana was playing the role of Prema Shalini, a famous film actress, and during her pregnancy, she went on a maternity break. During this time, the makers hired Neena as a new character named Sapna, who was treated as a replacement for Archana’s character. Neena was brought in under the impression that Archana won’t return to the show, and that Neena would continue as one of the leads. “Archana was doing the role. She got pregnant and they hired me. I asked them if Archana was coming back after her maternity break. They said, ‘No, she won’t be coming back’,” Neena recalled and said that she agreed to be a part of the show.

The show was a massive hit and Neena knew that it was very difficult to replace someone who was successfully playing a particular role. Despite the challenge, she agreed. “When a show is a hit… And Archana is such a good actor… It’s very difficult to replace such an actor. People don’t accept you so easily. I took the challenge.”

Neena was a part of 22 episodes of the show, and one day, she learnt that the makers had replaced her. When she was hanging out with a friend in Delhi, they got a call from Rakesh, who was her co-star on the show. Rakesh informed them that they were going to shoot the next day, and Neena was shocked to learn that no one from the production had informed her about it. “My friend asked if my role was even there anymore. Without telling me, they got Archana back. Such things also happen,” she recalled.

“The producer and director were at fault here. They must have known that Archana would come back, but they told me otherwise because they must have thought that I wouldn’t take it up if I knew that Archana would come back. They lied to me. This is the first time that I am talking about it,” she said.

Story continues below this ad

Archana rejoined the show after her maternity break and continued to be a part of Shriman Shrimati until the show’s end in 1997. The show aired on Doordarshan and was produced by Adhikari Brothers.

In 2005, the show was rebooted on SAB under the title Aaj Ke Shrimaan Shrimati. In 2018, there was another reboot titled, Shrimaan Shrimati Phir Se. Both the reboots had different cast. And TV’s Bhabiji Ghar Par Hain was also said to be inspired by Shriman Shrimati.