Masaba Gupta didn’t have money to pay cook during Covid: Made masks to cut losses

Designer-turned-actor Masaba Gupta recently spoke about the toughest phase of her life when her brand stores were shutting down and she didn’t have money to pay to her cook. She recalled how her life turned around during the coronavirus-induced lockdown in 2020.
“In 2020, when Covid hit, it was the worst time of my life,” Masaba said during a podcast with Faye D’Souza. She continued, “I don’t think I had even Rs 12,000 to pay my cook. It was that bad. In March 2020, the lockdown happened, and we thought it was mostly for a day or two, but it was extended to 14 days. In those 14 days, my life completely turned around.”
During the lockdown, Masaba was receiving calls from the business head of her fashion brand about no sales, as “fashion was at the bottom of the food chain at that time.”
Masaba recalled receiving calls from her store managers about the brand being on the brink of shutting down. “I remember during that time, from 2 pm to 5 pm, I would be on calls hearing that the brand would shut down on July 10. The dates kept changing. Sometimes July 15, sometimes August. House of Masaba was wrapping up. We were on calls with malls, every store, and landlords, requesting them to reduce the rent. Some people were very kind. We were so bad off that we had to take back our security deposits from some people. We were in the middle of a crazy expansion. I had my investors on call, who said I should think of wrapping up. They didn’t think it was going to work and believed there would be a different world post-Covid,” Masaba shared, adding how she would be in tears after every call.
However, her business head was confident about finding a solution. “My business head was confident; he was sure something would work out. But, we shut down five stores in two months. Some were franchises, some were company-owned. I think I had some Rs 2 lakh in the bank account. So we decided to hold on to that Rs 2 lakh, keep making masks, and focus on cutting our losses,” mentioned Masaba.
Amid these hardships, the Netflix show, her acting debut, Masaba Masaba, came to her rescue. Netflix called Masaba to inform her that they would be releasing the show during the pandemic.
“In August, Netflix approached me. They said they had shot Masaba Masaba and were going to release it. I was shocked. It was amid COVID. They sent a crew over to Goa, and we did some marketing and a lot of things virtually. I was nervous. I didn’t know if anyone would watch it. I didn’t think anyone had the temperament for it at that time,” Masaba expressed.

But when the show was released, things changed for the better. Masaba shared, “On August 20, it came out, and my sales head called me and said, ‘We did sales on the website. I think we did a couple of lakhs,’ and suddenly I had some power. I think from then on, I just went with it. People started watching the show and discovering the brand. Masaba Masaba saved me at a time when I didn’t know what else to do. A year after that, things stabilised, and I didn’t have to shut my label down.”
Currently, Masaba Gupta is doing well both personally and professionally. She is set to embrace motherhood soon. She and her husband, actor Satyadeep Mishra, announced their pregnancy earlier this year.