Actress, painter, poetess, writer, photographer, hiker — Deepti Naval has seamlessly merged so many personas and shades in her life that it can be fairly difficult to identify her with any one medium. This beautiful and natural performer, who has given some power-packed performances in films like Katha, Chashme Baddoor, Angoor, Saath Saath and Rang Birangi, is now coming up with her first Hindustani poetry book, Lamha-Lamha. She speaks about her passion for writing, art, acting and much more.
On becoming an actress
The actress par excellence has never formally studied the nuances of acting nor has she ever performed on stage during her growing years. She shares that Indian black and white cinema influenced her in many ways. “I distinctly remember watching films on the big screen and thinking, one day I am going to be up there and all these people who are crying or laughing or getting carried away with the emotions of the actors, will be connecting with me in a similar fashion. Whatever I will emote, they will all be feeling too,” shares Deepti and adds, “I was always an introvert, but even as a six-year-old, I knew that I wanted to be an actress, though I never had the guts to tell my parents about it. My father wanted me to be a painter. When I told him my wish to be an actor, he said to me, ‘you will only act till the time the lines don’t show on your face but art will always remain with you irrespective of age.’ I said to myself that I will focus on painting only after tasting the world of cinema.”
She adds, “It took me a long time to learn things. I remember, it took me about six movies to get over my basic inhibitions even though I grew up in New York!”
On writing
Naval started writing in Hindustani language during her college years while studying painting as her major subject in New York. Remembering those days she says, “Though I started writing during my college years in English, there was this growing complex that it is not my language. That is when I started writing in Urdu. There was also this tremendous influence of Urdu on my language because my father belonged to pre-Partition Lahore.”
Deepti Naval recently forayed into television too, with the acclaimed series Meri Awaz Hi Pehchan Hai.
On Lamha-Lamha
The book is Deepti’s first anthology of poetry in Urdu-ised Hindustani. Talking about the volume, which was out of stock for more than 20 years and is now being reprinted, she says, “These are the love sonnets I wrote during my 20s. It is filled with romanticism and I overcome a sense of loneliness, a strain of subtle sadness and a compulsive desire for self-expression by writing the romantic moments in verse.”
On writing in english again
Her first collection of English poems, Black Wind and other poems, was created in fits and starts over the years in the early 90s. Her poems deal with different aspects of life — from broken relationships and communal riots to suicides. Explaining why she shifted back to writing in English she says, “In the early 90s, I realised that English as a language came easily to me unlike Urdu for which I had to research a lot. Also, Urdu sounded soothing to the soul when I was writing love verses but when I was expressing emotional turbulence, it sounded heavy. That is when I realised that I could express certain emotions in English with greater ease in comparison with Hindi or Urdu, where they sounded more serious.”
On painting
“Most of my works are dark. I try to narrate many stories through the canvas but many a time the canvas narrates a simple story, leaving many unsettled voices inside me,” points out Deepti.”
On different art practices
The actress, who will soon be visiting Singapore to stage the play Ek Mulaqaat, says that she is blessed that she could express her feelings through various artistic media — something that came in handy during the dark phases of her life. She adds, “My writing and art came as tools to vent out all the negative energies. I believe they stopped me from going down hill.”
On solo travelling
A self confessed vagabond, Deepti happens to be the first non-Ladakhi Indian woman to trek the frozen Zanskar River. “Whenever I get some free time, I take off. I have driven to Ladakh from Mumbai six times till date. I am a major traveller and a committed trekker.
