I TALK – to India Monitor, Sunday – Sep 1994
“I am full of contradictions,” says Naval, slipping, as people do so easily, into an introspective mood.  “There is no joy in living in Bombay.  I long for wide open spaces, for the wilderness.  I need to have friends, relationships, but I have an intense need for my own space too.  If I am with people too long, I grow restless, and withdraw into my shell.  Acting is a career that is so contradictory to my personality.”

     “I have lived with myself LONG enough – so one is bound to ask onself ‘who am I’ and introspect on it.  It is impossible nearly to come to any conclusion though, but one has gained from it - I have evolved, grown  and mellowed. I have often asked myself where I am going, and whether it is all worth it.  What I want most from life is to be honest to myself, to be able to live without fear and without inhibition.

     “Yes, I have known failure. Failure has never really bothered me.  I analyze what went wrong and get to learn from it. come to terms. In fact, I don’t believe that life can be one long success story, and anyway failure makes you grow spiritually.”

DISAPPEARING SHADOWS
Lost child? A woman, defiantly finding her way through this maze called life. Deepti Naval. A woman of beautiful contradictions. She looks timid and vulnerable. But there also resides in her, this spirit which is strong and which cries for freedom. Speculating on what is going on in her mind is a tough task, as she hesitantly stares from her liquid brown eyes into your searching ones.

Mystery fascinates Deepti. She wanted to be a nun when she was a child, “There is always something hidden. One can’t figure out what exactly is going on inside them.” Among her paintings, there is one self-portrait as a pregnant nun. The painting depicts much more but it also shouts plain rebellion. But a rebel against what? “Against conformity. I just want to constantly experiment with myself. I don’t want to do anything that should be done, I’ll decide what should be done,” she says, most simply. This constant need to challenge boundaries is so greatly embedded in her that it has almost become a philosophy she religiously follows. Experimentation is apparent in her career graph.