Masaba Gupta on donning many hats, navigating female friendships and more

Her niche was carved out for her well before she even stepped into this world, her destiny predetermined by media chatter. But that has not stopped Masaba Gupta from wearing her truth as a badge of honour, of upending expectations and taking the reins in her hand. Fierce, unapologetic, and bold, Masaba is a polymath who refuses to be categorised.

Cosmo: Naming your brand ‘LoveChild’ has been one way of subverting the term that came to be associated with you growing up. Tell us more about it. Why do you call it the ‘homecoming’?

Masaba Gupta: Some things you just can’t shake off. For me, it was being called a love child; it was weaved into my destiny. So I took something that was looked at as a negative term in society and tried to make it as positive and meaningful as possible, changing its essence. 

In the last few years, we’ve done many collaborations, lent our energies and ourselves to so many brands when it comes to make-up. Each of those collaborations was just things I wanted to do on my own as a brand. This is why I call it the ‘homecoming’; because I’ve finally got my own beauty baby and I decide what it stands for. 

Cosmo: Given that you’ve co-created with Nykaa and Lakmé in the past, what made you decide to have your own brand?

Masaba Gupta: I'm somebody who knows and understands the pace of the beauty and fashion market very well. There has to be certain frequency of product range. With all the collaborations—be it with Nykaa or Lakmé—that brand journey was not getting realised. We had sporadic one-off products, a lipstick here, a fragrance there, without a larger brand story. To do things at the pace that I wanted, I knew I had to take it on myself and take charge.

That freedom allows me to systematically chart the roadmap for new product offerings, the pace of the launches, the communication around them and successively my brand. For instance, the first thing I did on day one was figure out, what are we launching in December? What will come in March ’23 and the subsequent Diwali?

Cosmo: Whether it is the House of Masaba apparel, the packaging of LoveChild, or even the opening introduction of the show, your brand has a distinct voice and style. Where does it come from, and what does it represent?

Masaba Gupta: We've discovered that not just LoveChild, but the House of Masaba is a lifestyle as well. There's a certain way that you feel when you dress up in an outfit from the brand, wear a lipstick from the brand, or look at the brand’s page on Instagram. There’s an empowering ‘Queen’ energy behind it that represents women's liberation and empowerment, taking ownership of your life, getting up and achieving what you want. It’s about being a boss. 

Whenever we’ve designed something, whether it is a Titan Raga or a Tata Nano, we've lent our aesthetics in a very simple way. Our victory as a brand has the ability to get people to buy into the aesthetic first and the product second. If they can recognise the product by the aesthetic, they will always have it at the back of their mind. 

Cosmo: How do you juggle between being a fashion designer, an actor, and an entrepreneur? 

Masaba Gupta: Well, I get the flu every week! (laughs)

I remember having this really funny moment where we were shooting the campaign for LoveChild, and the photographer, Tarun Vishwa, said, “You're the client on this deck, but you're also the model and the creative director.” So I do wear very many hats, but I'm on top of each of these pieces in my life because I find the greatest joy in my work. I will sit on the edit of Masaba Masaba, I will rap my own song, I will make my own beauty products, I will wear them with reels on Instagram. I want to live everything that I had ever imagined for myself. Of course, it takes a toll on my health, but this is what enlivens me.

The other, more tangible thing is that I'm very organised. I'm anal about schedules, and my days are planned out to the minute. Even my meals are planned. I don’t accommodate tardiness—I have great regard for my own time, and that of others.

Cosmo: How did Masaba Masaba come to be? What do you think has worked for the show?

Masaba Gupta: Masaba Masaba was the idea of Ashwini Yardi, the producer. She reached out to me a few years ago, and said, “I really like your Instagram and its content, so why don’t we do a scripted series about your life in which you and your mum play yourselves?” That’s how the first season happened. I had big learnings after that. I discovered what we need to do more of and less of in season 2. 

Although it is a fictional show, all aspects are very relatable because they come from someone or the other’s truth. We all know a friend who is about to marry a fool, a nice guy trying to get our attention, and a woman in search of love who decides to freeze her eggs. Having four women writers made it a very enriching experience; they became springboards to each other’s thoughts and personal experiences, and where one story ended, another took forward from there. 

That’s why a lot of women connect with it—because they see their stories in it. 

Cosmo: How does it feel to be playing yourself in a TV show about you?

Masaba Gupta: Being Masaba in Masaba Masaba is very Meta. Even though I’m playing myself, it’s not always my reality that’s being portrayed. Donning many hats in real life too, I find that I have different faces for the various interactions I have—Masaba in the office is very different from the one on set when she’s modelling or when she’s the brand. Similarly, in Masaba Masaba, even though my responses come from a very personal place, I am yet a character.

Cosmo: The show also focuses on your relationship with your mom. What do you two bond over? 

Masaba Gupta: Fashion, shopping, and food. Mum has now opened up to travel, so I really want to do that with her. 

Cosmo: What are your quarrels about?

Masaba Gupta: She mostly stresses about the amount of stress I take. But apart from that, we've become much like friends now. We have also found a rhythm where we know what pisses the other off, so unless we're looking for a quarrel, we won't have it.
Cosmo: What are your thoughts on female friendships?

Masaba Gupta: Sisterhood is beautiful, but also very complicated. If you look at a group of friends, you’ll find that the power dynamic there keeps changing. Sisterhood is about acknowledging that some days there's a friend of mine who is more powerful than I am, and I can learn from her, whereas on other days, it is the other way around. In the show, there is a scene with Gia, where things are not going right. I sit her down and speak to her as a parent, instead of freaking her out. And that’s also very important—being aware of the role we need to play for our friends at different points in time. 

Cosmo: Fame and accomplishment come with their lesser-liked companion, criticism. How do you deal with it?

Masaba Gupta: I’ve developed a thicker skin over the years, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling low multiple times a week. There are moments that come back to you; you realise you purposely avoided a negative feedback, or could have done something differently. That’s when I feel the most down and out, when I know I could have done something but didn’t. 

I value critics who have done their research well, those who offer genuine feedback that can actually help me improve, but I cannot stand those who are just out there to gaslight. 

And, honestly, one gets over a lot of things with time. I remember there was an Instagram handle of a woman whose job was to keep attacking me. It bothered me a lot initially but eventually I was able to overcome it because I realised that she was coming from a bad place. 

Cosmo: How has your resilience changed over the years?

Masaba Gupta: When I was younger, I was very strong, physically, but not so much mentally. Any wrong move in a game, any loss of a match, and I would crumble inside. That’s why I quit sport. Today, I'm much easier on myself. I am my biggest critic but I am able to see things objectively to know where I’m right and where I’m not. I also give myself time to course correct. Earlier, I would feel an urgent need to change overnight, but that can’t happen. There are too many pieces in the puzzle.

It’s important to give yourself some time to do both the good and the bad things. There will be moments where I will possibly try and do too many things and fail at everything. But that’s okay, there will be other opportunities.

Today, people think I’m doing too many things together, but they know nothing of the behind the scenes and the time and work that things take. Masaba Masaba was shot last year, LoveChild has been in the works for a year and a half. I’m finally giving myself that credit for working hard, which is very important. 

Cosmo: You’ve talked about having been bullied as a child. How has that experience shaped you and your interactions today?

Masaba Gupta: A sliver of that person will always be within me—the person who was bullied, who had to be defensive 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. There is still that child in me who thinks she deserved better. I have a need to speak my mind and make myself heard, because I spent a large part of my life not doing that. 

It’s not possible to overcome such scars overnight, but it is a work in progress. A lot of people view how driven I am as a way of rebellion. And there is some truth to that. My validation comes from the work I do, not from how I’m seen as a physical body. 

Cosmo: If you could tell your younger self something, what would that be?

Masaba Gupta: I would say that growing up is a trap. Stay childish, stay a little naive your whole life. This whole thing of being ‘tough’ and ‘guarded’ is just self-damaging and destructive.

Cosmo: What does self-care mean to you?

Masaba Gupta: Working out is my priority. Eighty per cent of the time I eat home-cooked food. I meditate, I write down my thoughts. I plan a lot. I plan ahead. And I always spend time with people who don't want or need anything from me. That’s a big part of self-care, where you're not always spending time with ‘yes people’ but with those who put you in your place.

Cosmo: What’s a superpower you wish you had?

Masaba Gupta: The ability to make someone who has wronged me—and is trying to make it look like I’ve wronged them—lose their ability to speak. It’s evil, but karma. There must be balance.  

Cosmo: What makes you happy?

Masaba Gupta: Being in my den and watching TV with a bag of popcorn that I don't have to be guilty about next day.

Cosmo: What makes you sad?

Masaba Gupta: Liars and people who misuse their power.

Cosmo: What do you fear?

Masaba Gupta: Being mediocre.

Cosmo: What are your hopes for the future?

Masaba Gupta: My hope is that we start talking about beauty in a much more open way, and that we become kinder to one another.