My mother, who had Alzheimer’s, was my reference for Goldfish: Deepti Naval

Deepti Naval is a woman of many parts. Apart from doing meaningful roles mainly in non-mainstream films, she has produced and directed serials for Doordarshan. Yet she remains one of the least utilised talents in Hindi cinema. Some time ago, Deepti featured in Muqammal, a soap on Sahara TV in which she performed a modernised version of Draupadi. But her lesser known talents are also brilliant in their sparkle and their creative imagination, be it a solo exhibition of paintings or a book of poetry that splits itself into two parts. A book on her childhood memories plus her direction of a beautiful film for OTT called Do Paise Ki Dhoop, Chaar Aane Ki Baarish. 

Excerpts from an interview:

You have worked in the telefilm ‘Didi’ directed by the late Tapan Sinha. On the occasion of Sinha’s birth centenary, what has been your experience of working with him?

When Tapan-da called up and told me about ‘Didi’, I was excited because some time before this, Hrishi-da (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) was going to make the same film and he had thought of me for the title role. But that film never got made so when Tapan-da told me the story, I felt that perhaps, I was destined to play the role. Tapan-da was always present on the sets during the shoot. He would not talk much and was very quiet. He was not in the best of health, I guess. But he would sit with me, read out along with me the dialogues for the scene to be shot so that I got the gist.

Any memories you would like to share?

Tapan-da had told me that he wanted to cast me as Pankaj Kapoor’s wife in Ek Doctor Ke Maut. Sadly, the dates clashed with another film I had signed for and I had to regretfully reject this prized offer. Of course, finally, it was Shabana Azmi who played that role so it became a truly significant film in Tapan-da’s directorial oeuvre.

Tell us about the Best Supporting Actress award you won in Pakistan at the Karachi film festival for your performance in ‘Leela’ (2002).

I am not used to getting awards. It was new for me, and one hardly expects an Indian actress to get an award from Pakistan. I was truly touched. I loved my role in Leela. After playing more subdued characters, I needed to play a strong character. The last time I won an award was way back in 1982, for my first film ‘Ek Baar Phir’. But that wasn’t for acting, it was more for a newcomer. Most recently, I was thrilled to receive the Critics Choice Award for my portrayal in ‘Goldfish’.

Tell us a bit about ‘Goldfish’ and your role in it.

I loved my role in the film. It is the story of an estranged mother and daughter. The daughter, portrayed by Kalki Koechlin, has to come see her mother who is slowly slipping into dementia. It is aimed at spreading more awareness around ailments like dementia and Alzheimer’s. I could easily relate to the mother-daughter relationship and enjoyed doing it.

Can you give us insights about playing the mother?

My experience with my mother who suffered from Alzheimer’s was my frame of reference for this role in Goldfish. I firsthand witnessed how she gradually lost her memory and watched her go down the lane losing all her brilliance, and her command over her life. But it was the healing of the fractured mother-daughter relationship at the end of the film that appealed to me more.

You had an exhibition of paintings in London some years ago. What was it all about?

It was called 'In Search of Another Sky' and was held at the Nehru Centre, London, to raise funds for The Consortium for Street Children. Founded in 1993, the charity was a network of development agencies providing training, technical and campaigning support to projects for children who live and work in the streets of developing countries and in Eastern Europe. But before then, I had my first solo exhibition of paintings in Mumbai and credit for this goes almost solely to my late partner, Vinod Pandit, who I had decided to marry if he had lived. We worked together in my serial 'Thoda Sa Aasmaan' which explored the different worlds of women of three generations and starred Nadira in an important role. Vinod helped me revive my love for photography in a big way.

Tell us something about your collection of poetry in two parts – Black Winds and The Silent Stream.

The poems belong to a particular phase in my life, beginning in 1990 and ending around 1995. I had created them in fits and starts over the years and they were lying with me till Bipin of Mapin Publishing approached me to hand over the collection for publishing. The first part, Black Winds, contains about 50 poems that are totally subjective, introspective and reflective of my own feelings as I lived within my loneliness, in company or outside of it. The second part, The Silent Scream, would interest readers more. There are 24 poems that throw back to the 23 days I spent in a mental home for women as a normal person. The experience was traumatic to begin with. But as I lived with them, everything began to fall in place and seeped into me so much that I asked for permission to extend my stay from three days to 23 days. Then it was the parting that was more traumatic.

Which among your oeuvre would you pick out as your favourite films?

My first film Ek Baar Phir, directed by Vinod Pande continues to be closest to my heart. I have worked with several directors in several unusual roles that have transcended the screen and influenced me deeply. They might not have been commercially successful but they are characters not many actresses would have cared to step into. Among them are Buddhadev Dasgupta’s Andhi Gali, Sudhir Mishra’s Main Zinda Hoon, Amol Palekar’s Ankahee, Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala, Prakash Jha’s Damul and Jagmohan Mundra’s Kamla and Bawandar.