| ACTRESS
Deepti Naval’s book of poems ‘Black
Wind and other poems’ was released at Prithvi
Theatre in Juhu on Monday, reports UNI.
Writer, director
Gulzar unveiled the book while actor Naseeruddin
Shah introduced the author and read out a couple
of verses from the book on the occasion. A host
of book-lovers, including actors and actresses
like Manisha Koirala participated in the interactive
session after the poetry reading.
Talking about the
book, Shah said the book displays a rare poetic
sensibility - rhythm, emotion and images coalesce
to arrive at a voice that speaks of suffering,
madness and pain. The poems deal with broken relationships,
abortions, lost chances, city riots, love, suicidal
thoughts, about friends from the film world and
now lost and very occasionally, the possibility
of beauty and joy, he added.
Gulzar said these
poems offer a sustained view of the other side
of life’s tapestry and sound a new note
in Indian English poetry, one that captures a
reader’s attention.
Speaking on the
occasion, Naval said, “These poems in Black
Wind belong to a particular phase of my life between
1990-95. Now that time has gone by and I have
moved away from it, I am able to look back and
say yes, I lived those moments.”
Elaborating to
UNI later, Naval said she was shooting for the
film Ankahi when she decided to visit a mental
hospital in order to study for her role. When
she came out of the premises, she felt she had
lost all energy. She felt as if she had taken
a great beating. Four hours that she spent inside
the women’s ward left her completely frazzled.
Later on, in 1993
she had to work on a film script about an actress
playing the role of a mentally disturbed woman
and how the role starts affecting her. This time
she lived with the women inside the ward.
This visit stretched
to more than two weeks. It was a very trying time
for her and she got to watch the women, at close
quarters, a few of them even intimately, Suddenly,
she was confronted with so much pain; pain on
the face of women, telling the stories of their
lives, she explained. She realised that the world
of mentally-disturbed was also a world of stark
reality- a world of the hyper sensitive and a
world of the unabashedly honest. She also realised
that there were a lot of women, who were not ‘mad’
but were simply dumped in there for life, because
no one wanted them back. Two weeks of watching,
listening and talking to them changed her perception
of the world in a strange irrevocable way.
Though she
was able to put down a lot of material into her
script, a few images still floated in her head.
It was those few fragmented images that inspired
these poems.
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