Recently, when film-maker and journalist Pritish Nandy passed away, actor Neena Gupta had commented under Anupam Kher’s Instagram post for him, saying ‘No RIP’. “He stole my baby’s birth certificate and published it. So no RIP, you understand, and I have proof of it,” she had commented. Later, the post was deleted either by Neena or Kher.
In 1989, when Neena had given birth to her daughter Masaba, Nandy had published the latter’s birth certificate in The Illustrated Weekly Of India, a publication who’s editor-in-chief he was, revealing that West Indies legendary cricketer Vivian Richards was the father of the baby girl, and that she was born out of wedlock.
However, senior journalist S Balakrishnan has revealed that he was the one who got the birth certificate. Balakrishnan told us about the conversation Nandy had with him.
“I was working with the Illustrative Weekly of India as a Senior Associate Editor and I was reporting directly to Pritish. He was not only my boss but also a great motivator. He told me that he knew for a fact that it is indeed Viv who is the father, but didn’t have any proof. So he said, can you do something to get the proof? The only proof was Masaba’s birth certificate. I said, ‘You give me some time.’ The fact remains we had proved we have broken the story. I’m really shocked that Neena Gupta is holding that against Pritish and calling him a thief and saying that he has stolen her child’s birth certificate, which is far from the truth. I went down to the municipal office in In Andheri because Neena was staying in Juhu. I just guessed that the delivery must have taken place in one of the maternity homes in the Juhu area, and I happened to know somebody there. When I went there, I said, ‘Look, I’m a journalist, and we want this document.’ They said, for what? I said it was for a legitimate public purpose because Neena is a celebrity, and Vivian Richards is a global celebrity. So if these two have come together and in a love relationship and a beautiful child has been born, this is news for the whole world to know. We just need the proof. And the gentleman over there, he cooperated with me. And then upon paying him, whatever charges are to be paid, I was given a Xerox copy of the birth certificate in which the father’s name is mentioned. It was clearly mentioned that Viv was the father. So that was proof enough. I picked up that certificate, I came to office and then gave to Pritish. He was so excited that within a matter of few hours that I was able to produce a proof. It’s a different matter that he put the story on the front page but did not give me the byline, even though the hard work was mine, the idea of the story ofcourse was his. He should have actually given me a joint byline, but I am not the type to crib or cringe about these things. However, I’m really shocked that Neena is holding that against Pritish and calling him a thief and saying that he has stolen her child’s birth certificate which is far from the truth. And she has recently used extremely abusive language for him. And what is worse, she said no R.I.P,” Balakrishnan said.
See the entire video interview above to know the complete details.
