Neetu Chandra

Some Lesser Known Facts About Neetu Chandra

• Neetu Chandra is an Indian actress, producer, and theatre artist who is known for her role as Sweety in the Bollywood film ‘Garam Masala (2005).

• She was born into a middle-class family in Patna. In an interview, she said that she stopped taking any money from her parents after the class tenth and studied on a sports scholarship in college.

• She has a good command of her mother tongue Bhojpuri and often talks about how proud she is of her mother tongue in many interviews.

• After completing her graduation, she started modelling and appeared in various advertisements.

•  Apart from being an actor, she is also a sportsperson, who plays basketball and holds two Dan black belts in Taekwondo. In an interview, she said that her mother asked her to learn Taekwondo when she was in class three. In 1997, she represented India in the World Taekwondo Championships which was held in Hong Kong. In 2016, she was invited as a chief guest at the Korus Taekwondo Championship.

  

• She is associated with basketball and NBA. In an interview, she said that she did not take up basketball as a profession because when she was young, she read news about a clerk job being offered to sportsperson PT Usha. Adding to this, she further said,
  

  When I was young I used to follow PT Usha a lot. She was a celebrity back then and when the news of her being offered a clerks post in railways came to me I was shattered and may be that was the time I thought there was no future in sports. Treating a legend like PT Usha in such regard will never have a positive impact on upcoming sportspersons not back then and not today.”

  

• She has appeared in Hindi films including Traffic Signal (2007), Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), Rann (2010), Apartment (2010), and Kucch Luv Jaisaa (2011).

  

• Apart from Hindi films, she has appeared in various Telugu films like Godavari (2006), Satyameva Jayate (2009), and Manam (2014).

  

• She also did some Tamil films including Theeradha Vilaiyattu Pillai (2010), Yuddham Sei (2011), Aadhi Baghavan (2013), Settai (2013), and Singam 3 (2017).

  

• In 2014, she appeared in the Kannada film Power.

  

• In 2013, she appeared in the Greek film Home Sweet Home. In 2016, she appeared in another Greek film Block 12.

  

• In 2008, her character was introduced in a 3D mobile game, ‘Nitu — The Alien Killer,’ launched by 7Seas Technologies.

• In 2009, she became the brand ambassador of Gitanjali Hoop Silver Pendant. In 2018, she became Community Ambassador for Patna Pirates in the Pro Kabaddi league. She is also the brand ambassador of Cancer Patients Aid Association, Mumbai and Teen Cancer America.

  

• She owns a production house named ‘Champaran Talkies.’ The Maithili language film ‘Mithila Makhaan,’ directed by her brother Nitin Chandra and produced under her production house, won a national award. In 2021, she supported the idea of adding the Maithili language in the curriculum of Bihar schools. In an interview, she talked about her support for the language and said,
  

  I believe that once a language dies, dies the whole society – be it the food, culture, music and clothes. Everything becomes extinct with the language. Therefore, I plead and urge that they should surely include Maithili, Bhojpuri, Magahi and the other regional languages of Bihar in the school curriculum. It’s very important. And to start with Maithili would be a great step ahead. If we include this, it will just not be a state-changing affair but also society and life-changing event. It will open up a lot more scope for the people of Bihar.”

  

• In 2012, the Bhojpuri film Deswa, produced by Neetu, became the first film from Bihar to enter International Film Festival in Goa in the ‘Indian panorama’ category.

• In 2013, she made her debut in theatre with the play Umrao. She was paid Rs. 1000 for each show. In an interview, she said that even after doing eighteen films, she did not mind earning Rs.1000 per show.

  

• In 2014, Neetu took to Facebook to slam novelist Chetan Bhagat for creating the character of a boy from Bihar who lacks English conversational skills for his novel Half Girlfriend. In the Facebook post, she wrote,
  

  He makes his Bihari protagonist, incidentally from my town Dumraon, as someone who is bad at English. But to Chetan Bhagat’s disappointment, let me tell you guys, the first ever English novel in this country was written by Dean Mohammad from Bhojpur region in Bihar in 1793. Better luck next time Chetan. Biharis have better English than your imagination. Bhagat Bhai, Bihar ke aankh se dekha ja ke, khali kaan se maat suna.”

• In 2018, she announced that she would appear in a Korean film titled ‘Narae.’

• In 2018, she lashed out at Sidharth Malhotra when he said that speaking Bhojpuri gave him a “latrine feeling” during a show. She took to Twitter and criticized Sidharth for his comment on Bhojpuri language. Later, Sidharth apologized and said that he never meant to disrespect the language.

• In an interview, she said that she went on a vegan diet to prepare herself for the Hollywood film Never Back Down: Revolt. In 2021, she wore a saree at the premiere of Never Back Down Revolt. In an interview, she said that she carried India wherever she went, which is why she wore a saree at the premiere of the Hollywood film Never Back Down Revolt. In April 2022, she met CM of Bihar Nitish Kumar and Minister of Industry Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, who appreciated her for her performance in Never Back Down: Revolt.

  

• In an interview, she said that she was offered the role of Tanu in the film Tanu Weds Manu (2011), but she was later replaced with Kangana Ranaut. She further said that she was also offered the female lead in the film Dabangg (2010), but she was again replaced with Sonakshi Sinha.

• Reportedly, when Neetu’s ex-boyfriend Randeep Hooda was shooting for the film Do Lafzon Ki Yeh Kahani, Neetu was invited to the sets to help Hooda with some stunts.

  

• In an interview, she said that Nepotism was not a bad thing. She further talked about this and said,
  

  I feel every industry has nepotism and I personally don’t think it’s wrong. Today, I am an actor and tomorrow if my kid wants to be one, I don’t feel there’s anything wrong in it. However, I feel happy that I made it here without any Godfather. It wasn’t easy but then do you value the things you achieve easily?”

• She is a lifetime member of International Film And Television Club and International Film And Television Research Centre of Asian Academy of Film & Television.

• She is an avid dog lover and often posts pictures with them on social media.

  

Neetu Chandra’s character introduced in a 3D mobile game