Deepti Naval: an Amritsar-born woman best known for her acting in Indian classics like Ek Baar Phir (1980) and Kamla (1985), directing Do Paise Ki Dhoop Chaar Aane Ki Baarish (2009), and most recently for critically acclaimed Lion (2016) starring Dev Patel and Goldfish (2022). Naval’s filmography alone is enough to secure her place as one of the greatest cinematic masters of all time, let alone a female Indian master.
However, perhaps it is Naval’s love for numerous creative trades that have built her to be a master of film. Writing, poetry, painting, and deejaying are amongst the creative pursuits of Deepti Naval, and her outputs are proof that a jack of all trades isn’t always a master of none.
Born in Amritsar, Naval followed her professor and writer father to New York City in time to start her Fine Arts Degree at City University of New York. Along with English, Psychology, and American Theatre, Naval studied Painting at City. On top of that, she squeezed in hosting at the WBNA radio station, running a weekly program of Hindi songs. Naval writes ‘[there’s] nothing like music’.
Whilst most famous for her work in film, Naval’s background seems to be rooted in painting. She states her mother was her ‘guru’ and ‘taught me everything I know about art’ as she shares one of her mothers paintings (from which you can see hints of Deepti’s own work).
On the talents of each of her parents, she writes:
It’s from my mother that I learnt how to paint. She was a wonderful painter and has a whole body of work that I would some day like to share with you all. And it is from my father that i inherited the talent for writing. I am what i am because of who both my parents were . . .
– From Deepti’s Facebook page.
Navals knife-work with oil is expressionistic and rich with themes of religion, psyche, and identity. Despite this, her first official solo exhibition debuted in 1995, at age 44 long after her studies and acting debut.
Arguably her most well-known painting is ‘Self Portrait / Contradiction’, a 58x138cm oil painting of a pregnant nun. Naval expresses ‘being brought up in a convent school, there’s no way [she] could not have painted the nuns’. And so she does, painting what some saw as scandalous. But this view frustrated Naval; the painting was not simply meant to be provocative, but to display the inner conflict of her own desires.
Regarding the process of the painting, here’s what Naval writes:
I was working in my garage studio at the time. A friend, nine months pregnant, walked in.. I looked up and saw her leaning against the door, and I thought to myself – ‘When a woman is pregnant, she can look so pure, so untouched, almost saintly, like a nun…’. an oxymoron. I picked up a raw white canvas, squeezed out some black paint and started to draw lines with my brush.
But this is only a surface interpretation.
At a deeper level, there was this conflict that I had been going through for some time now – wanting to move away from everything material, to give it all up and go into oblivion. But at the same time, I felt a strong compelling urge to embrace life all over again, to live fully. Pregnancy to me signifies the fullness of living, while nun-hood, is ‘giving up’ and moving towards the spiritual path. This terrible conflict, of wanting these two opposite things, passionately, at the same time, made me paint the Pregnant Nun.
– Deepti Naval from https://www.deeptinaval.com/studio-full-02.htm
Now 72 years old, Naval continues to share on social media all aspects of her work; writing, painting, photography, and travelling. Her love for each of these shines through in every post, yet what is still most popular is her work in film. Perhaps Deepti Naval is vulnerably baring to her followers the continuous, vast, and various work that goes into creating ‘grander’ things that are emotionally rich and captivating. By studying everything, Naval makes films that have everything, that can connect with everyone.
WORMHOLE 