15 November,2023 10:01 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Masaba Gupta, Vivian Richards, Neena Gupta
Masaba Gupta broke her silence on ex-Pakistani cricketer Ramiz Raja's unsavoury reaction to a video mocking her parents, Neena Gupta and Vivian Richards. The fashion designer turned actress lashed at him for lacking 'grace'. In a tweet on X, Masaba raised her voice and called his reaction 'sickening'.
Masaba's tweet read, "Dear Ramiz Raja (sir) grace is a quality few have. My father, mother and I have it in spades. You have none. Sickening to see you laugh on national TV in Pakistan at something the world stopped laughing at about 30 years back. Step into the future. All 3 of us are here with our chin up."
Sharing the screenshot of the tweet on Instagram stories, Masaba wrote, "It's nearly 2024- no matter who you are I will call you out on racism and shaming my mother on television. Won't have it. That is still my fight."
Masaba's reaction came after a video went viral. Ramiz could be seen laughing at a joke made at the cost of Neena and Vivian. The host of a Pakistani comedy show mocked the former West Indies cricketer's skin color. In the clip, the comedian asked an artist if she followed cricket. When she said, "I do watch cricket matches and my heart broke when Vivian Richards went into a relationship with Neena Gupta. I wrote a couplet then. âJo ladkiyan khud ko kehti hain malika-e-aliya, Unko fir milta hai Mr Kaliya' (The girls who consider themselves the queen, eventually end up with a black man)." Ramiz laughed at the remark.
Vivian attended Masaba's wedding with Satydeep Mishra in January this year. Sharing a post dedicated to her father, she wrote, "The eyes chico, they never lie. My fierce father, a gentle giant and I'm so glad I got not just your nose but also your shoulders to take on the world just like you did and emerge a fighter."
At the Jaipur Literature Festival for her autobiography Such Kahun To, Neena spoke about having a child out of wedlock. She said, "I was a young girl who fell in love, got pregnant and had a child whom she wanted to keep. And it was not easy. Many well-wishers discouraged me, saying that things would get difficult. But when young, one seldom listens to anyone, right?"