I love Shyam Benegal’s movies. He is the first man who put me in front of the camera. In so many ways, he has been a mentor to me. When I was studying in New York, I had heard great things about him and his films like Ankur (1974) and Nishant (1975).
And then I saw Bhumika (1977) and met actor Smita Patil in New York, who became a very good friend of mine. Since that time, I was very enamoured by the cinema of Shyam Benegal. I was completely taken in because I had also not seen Bengali cinema. It was not accessible since I grew up in Amritsar. There was no other cinema except commercial Hindi cinema. It was only in New York that I came to know about Shyam Benegal and his kind of work. And I was totally enamoured by the cinema that he was making. I wanted to be part of such cinema.
Deepti Naval with Shyam Benegal
So when I came down to Bombay, he was the first film personality I met for work. ‘I want to work with you,’ I said. ‘I want to be an actor and I would like to begin with you as I love your movies.’ He was making Junoon (1979) at the time. And, he had already cast for the film. I was such a raw actor at that time. I was not a trained actor at all. I was just somebody who believed in herself and had just met this great filmmaker. But then, when they were shooting in Lucknow, I got a call in the middle of the schedule. ‘There is a small part on offer,’ they said. ‘You could kindly come and see if you could do that, as it will be akin to a screen test.’ So I jumped at the opportunity because I was told that I will get to see people like Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Jennifer Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Kulbhushan Kharbanda. I was told, ‘You will see all these very well-established actors, very well-trained actors, how they work. You are not trained. You are very new to this. So you come, it will be a great experience.’
It was a memorable experience. And, Shyam babu was such a gentle soul. Of course, very erudite, too, and exceptionally well-informed and very learned in his field. And, he had a great vision. The way he filmed Junoon was something else. I will never forget that. I didn’t have much chance to work with him beyond that. But I still say he was the first man who introduced me to the camera.
Junoon is a beautiful film. It is beautifully shot. My work was just like for four, five days. But I was there for three months because he wanted me to stay. So Nafisa (Ali) and I were together. We became great friends. And I stayed on and I became part of the unit. I got to observe all these great actors and learn from them. That was his intention.
So, in a way, I have to thank him for giving me that initial opportunity of seeing how great actors work. I remember being totally mesmerised by the way Naseer worked, too. The way he prepared, the amount of work he put in each scene. It was quite an eye-opener for me. And I realised that, wow, this is sheer hard work. Benegal redefined its meaning for me.
―As told to Pooja Biraia
Deepti Naval made her acting debut with Shyam Benegal’s Junoon. Her most recent film was Goldfish (2023).