FOREIGN FLICKS - LEELA, DEC 2002
Both Deepti Naval and Amol Mhatre blend into their roles with astonishing skill.’

MID-DAY, DEC 20, 2002
It is interesting to know that Deepti Naval, who played the mother of the boy in Leela who condones the affair, gets herself in a similar situation as Janki Thomas in Freaky Chakra. But Naval felt that she could identify with both the women in their respective situations. “First playing Chaitali in Leela and then Ms. Thomas in Freaky Chakra was like being in a theatre workshop where characters reverse roles.”

SHOBHA DE - BOMBAY TIMES, TIMES OF INDIA - NOV 11, 2002
Deepti holds her own and delivers a performance that succeeds in touching you in the oddest of moments and for the strangest of reasons. Frankly, I felt for Deepti and with Deepti, for more than I did for Dimple.

Deepti, who, even in her final confrontation with the 40-ish woman (Dimple) who has had sex with a 19-year-old student (Deepti’s son) still manages to hang on to her dignity while the world crumbles around her. There is nothing even remotely pathetic about Chaitali in these powerfully-etched scenes. And there’s nothing caricature about her, either. If anything, her controlled rage and transparent contempt for Leela are projected more through her subtle body language than anything else.

MID-DAY, NOV 1, 2002
Deepti is however the best among the lot displaying a gamut of emotions in her role.

MUMBAI NEWSLINE, DEC 8, 2002
As the rural oppressed wife in Shakti she had only a moment of prowess, but as Chaitali in Leela, she’s drawing raves all over again. Coming up is a pivotal part in the experimental film, Freaky Chakra

NEW RELEASES - SHUBHRA GUPTA-DEC 20, 2002
It is Chaitalil’s character who lends heft to the movie. Deepti Naval brings a clear-eyed honesty to the role of women torn between her son and her lover, and in the end, retaining both of them.

SHOBHA DE - BOMBAY TIMES, TIMES OF INDIA - NOV 11, 2002
Deepti holds her own and delivers a performance that succeeds in touching you in the oddest of moments and for the strangest of reasons. Frankly, I felt for Deepti and with Deepti, for more than I did for Dimple.

Deepti, who, even in her final confrontation with the 40-ish woman (Dimple) who has had sex with a 19-year-old student (Deepti’s son) still manages to hang on to her dignity while the world crumbles around her. There is nothing even remotely pathetic about Chaitali in these powerfully-etched scenes. And there’s nothing caricature about her, either. If anything, her controlled rage and transparent contempt for Leela are projected more through her subtle body language than anything else.

SUNDAY - MID-DAY, NOV 3, 2002
Deepti Naval, who was so impressive the recent Shakti, is more than commendable again in a difficult part.

A DYSFUNCTIONAL UNIVERSE by SUBHASH K JHA, REDIFF MOVIES
Deepti Naval as the single mother Chaitali is far more vivacious and into her part. For long typecast in Mumbai as a moping matriarch, she gets into her glamorous togs with relish.

Deepti's part has more shades than Dimple’s. A single mother to a culturally ambivalent 18-year old Indian boy in the US, she hides her lover from her son's eyes and scolds him for using swear words as stubbornly as she flaunts her Indian values.

DEEPTI'S THE BEST AT KARACHI FEST!
BY KARISHMA UPADHYAY, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2003,
THE TIMES OF INDIA ONLINE
Cut to the past. Deepti Naval made her film debut with Ek Baar Phir (1979) and followed up this celluloid success with critically-acclaimed performances in Mirch Masala and Damil. Still, she never won a single award. But all this changed a few days ago. For, Deepti has won the 'Best Supporting Actress Award' at the 3rd Karachi Film Festival for her performance in the movie Leela .

"I'm quite tickled, actually," says the actress, "I never really thought about not having won any award. I am pretty bindaas about all this. But it feels nice that my work was recognised." Deepti's only regret is that she wasn't in Karachi to accept the award. " Leela producer Kavita Munjal called me and told me about the award. I don't know what it feels like to receive an award in front of an audience and carry it down the stage." But even if she had made the journey to Karachi, Deepti wouldn't have delivered an acceptance speech. "I am not very good in front of the microphone. So, I wouldn't have given a speech."

Interestingly, Deepti doesn't know who accepted the award on her behalf in Karachi. "So, I don't know when I will be able to display it in my house!"

Talking of Karachi, like many Indians, Deepti's roots are in Pakistan. Two years ago, she travelled to Lahore to visit the places where her parents studied and lived. "I have always been very fascinated by Pakistan and by how close and yet so distant people in the two countries are. It was a very emotional experience." And, of course, so will be the time when Deepti Naval holds her first award in her own hands.