Deepti Naval, who was recently in Delhi, showcased one of her paintings at an art gallery in the capital. The veteran actress, who has filmed for Chashme Baddoor and Made In Heaven in Delhi, says, “I like Delhi. I keep coming back here. That haveli (where she shot for Made In Heaven) was glorious.” 

Talking about her art on display, she says, “The painting that I have put on display is a portrait of my friend, Zaki. There is a portrait of me on display as well. ”

Her work, although not part of the festival, also includes a painting of Smita Patil. She says, “With Smita ji, I had an intense bond. When she passed away, I made her painting in the next 10 days. It was my way of dealing with the grief. In fact, there is also a poem that I have written ‘Between Smita and I’. It describes our equation. In the painting, my eyes are closed and her eyes are open and somebody asked me, ‘why you have kept her eyes open (as she has passed away) and yours closed?’ I said, ‘I am still groping in the dark, but Smita has found the light’. So, uski aankhein khul chuki hain.”

Apart from the paintings of her friends, her work also includes a lot of self-portraits. She says, “My self-portraits are not pretty pictures of me because as an actress there is enough of that. These self-portraits are all internal. It’s the state of mind that you are going through at that moment when you are painting a self-portrait. In each self-portrait, I have tried to capture different feelings and state of mind.”

Over the years she has captured snowcapped Himalayas in her paintings while travelling in the hills. And now her paintings have found a home (at her gallery) in Haripur, Kullu. She says, “Himachal se meri personal history judi hui hai. When I was growing up in Amritsar, my parents would take us to the Kullu Valley in Himachal Pradesh and we would go and stay in Manali. So, I have this connect with Manali. I eventually got a place there but later I thought, ‘What is the point of having a place in the hills when you hardly stay there?’ Then I decided to make it a home for my artwork and that’s how it became a gallery. I enjoy going there and want to find more time to visit and paint there. ”