Quotes from Deepti Naval

When people reach out to me and say they relate to me through my characters, that's also a reward of a kind.

I was writing in English since my school days in Amritsar.

I have been around for more than 30 years and it has been quite a journey. It had its glorious moments on camera and painful moments off camera.

I have always been fond of painting landscapes.

My painting and writing has always been parallel. That's why probably where my colleagues have done 300 films, I have done only about a 100, out of which I'd say at least 30-35 films I am even proud of.

I vividly remember my first meeting with Farooque Shaikh. It was in 1975. I had just returned from New York after completing my graduation and was looking for opportunities to begin a career as an actor.

When I take up a role, I start believing that I'm that person only.

I wanted to belong to the films which were trying to say something.

I feel that somewhere actors are vulnerable, that they need to be protected and this is why we find ourselves living life much less than more.

Personally, I've always felt that I've enjoyed my work. But there have been times where I've have waited for interesting work to come my way.

When roles that mattered to me started drying up, I took to the brush and camera to connect with myself and the world.

I used to walk miles to make a single phone call. Look how things have changed today.

When I was shooting for 'Ankahee,' I had to visit the women's ward of a mental hospital to study the role.

I became extremely choosy about films.

My family has always appreciated and supported me for my choices.

Everybody is an actor, whether you play the main lead or one of the supporting characters.

OTT platforms have opened up a whole new area to explore in terms of content, writing, acting, everything. But I'm not really very comfortable with the four-letter cuss words in all languages, which are now used liberally; I'm a bit old school.

I love writing. It is the closest thing to me after being an actor.

Where is the need to go deep into the character and all that? Concentrate on one thing - looking beautiful in front of the camera at all times! That was one lesson I could never learn... trade the inside for the outside!

Each and every role I have done has been a conscious decision.

It's okay to do a small role in mainstream cinema like 'Aurangzeb' or 'Yaariyan.' But it's films like Rituparno Ghosh's 'Memories Of March' and Avinash Kumar Singh's 'Listen Amaya' that sustain me as an actress.

I've had a weakness for Bengali directors, be it Rituparno Ghosh, Aparna Sen, or Goutam Ghose, because of their sensitivity towards cinema.

I never run away from things but confront them, and I preferred to stay on the periphery of Mumbai film industry.

Why can't we digest a woman taking the lead in a love scene?