Shabana Azmi, Makarand Deshpande launch Deepti Naval’s memoir in Mumbai

Deepti Naval, who turned 70 this year, released her memoir A Country Called Childhood, published by Aleph Book Company, in Mumbai on 25 July. The veteran actress was accompanied by actor-director Makarand Deshpande and chief guest and fellow actress Shabana Azmi and they discussed portions of Naval’s memoir and her vivid memories of her time growing up in Amritsar, Punjab.

Book excerpt: The movies that inspired Deepti Naval to become an actress

The event, which was held at the Taj Lands End, was presented by the Prabha Khaitan Foundation. The launch was attended by several notable personalities of film and stage, including Aparna Sen, Divya Dutta, Poonam Dhillon, Dolly Thakore, Zarina Wahab, Prakash Jha, Sonali Kulkarni, Kawaljeet Singh, Kirti Kulhari, Anup Soni and Juhi Babbar Soni.

Azmi kicked off the proceedings by reading an anecdote from Naval’s childhood when she was around four years old. Later, Naval read many portions of the memoir, recalling stories of her childhood, from the night she was born to a special Diwali night when she and her sister wore coveted, matching blue frocks.

The book cover features a never-seen-before photograph of Naval as a 16-year-old.

Calling the process of writing her memoir exhilarating, Naval stated that the book allowed her to process ‘the pain of her parents, the community, and the country through revisiting memories of the Partition. Naval’s parents had grown up in Lahore, Pakistan and relocating to Amritsar, so close to the border, was tough.

Azmi, who recalled her past as a blur, asked Naval, “How do you have such a vivid recollection?” To which the actress replied, “I think it’s only my childhood I remember in such detail. Because it was such a splendid time.”

“I have been writing down these memories for a very long time. It’s not just now,” she added, saying she has been taking notes for years.

When asked by Azmi to describe herself, Naval said, “I think of myself as a creative soul who is just compelled to express herself any which way. Whichever medium is given to me. I think if I had another 100-150 films, maybe I wouldn’t have had this urge to express myself so much.”

“Writing is, I think, the closest to my heart. It’s closest to who I am, as a person,” she reiterated.

The veteran actress turned down requests for a sequel to this book, saying writing about her childhood was much easier. She’s not interested in writing about her film career as it doesn’t allow her to be creative. She would enjoy writing about other things and hinted she had other books in her.

Azmi stated that they had been friends now for many years. She said, “I consider her a very fine actress. She has a beautiful voice, she sings like a dream and it used to always fascinate me how she could do so many things. She was painting, she was writing, she was a traveller and wanderer. Would I have the guts to do this? I really admire her a lot in many ways.”

When talk turned to their film careers, Azmi said makers at the time didn’t know how to put her in a box and therefore didn’t know how to deal with her. Naval admitted that she got depressed sometimes as they didn’t care to know who she was then. She missed out on many roles over the years because she took time out for herself.

Furthermore, she was typecast as the sweet, girl next door in films such as Sai Paranjpye's cult classic Chashme Buddor (1981) where the actress essayed a character nicknamed Miss Chamko.

“I owe a lot to Sai Paranjpe for having created that wonderful character,” Naval said. “People remember it even now but that’s not me. The only me is what you heard me read. And my poetry is the only autobiography that I’ve been writing.”

“That is what cinema does,” she added. “Whatever image you’ve been able to portray successfully, that becomes your limitation. That becomes your tragedy.