Deepti Naval calls her role in Zindagi na Milegi Dobara ‘miniscule’: It was like an alarm

Actor-director-writer Deepti Naval completes 45 years as an actor this year. At this stage of her career Naval is looking for more defined roles. “I’m hoping to get better roles, otherwise, I’m very happy writing. There is no dearth of offers. The typical mother roles are dime a dozen,” she says.

Naval is certain that she just doesn’t want to play another mother on screen. Thus, for her next movieMother Teresa and Me, she was extremely clear about it. “I asked the director what do you want me to play? It’s either the young girl or Mother Teresa. At that point I didn’t want to do any typical mother role. My role in Zindagi na Milegi na Dobara (ZNMD) was most miniscule and I thought, ‘Oh my God, is this what it’s going to be now? People are going to call me for one or two scenes’. It was like a little bit of an alarm. Of course it’s a beautiful film to be a part of it. But here I thought, yes, I could bring something.I didn’t have any great expectations from my role (in Mother Teresa and Me) I wanted to be part of a good film just like I wanted to be part of Zoya (Akhtar, director)’s film,” Naval explains.

Did the entire ZNMD episode bother her? Naval shuns down the conjecture. “Out of three scenes, two were kept and only one was pulled out. That’s the freedom the director takes. I was happy (with it) but I certainly didn’t want to be the mother and be there for just a split second. No,” she clarifies.

Having said that the author is “very comfortable” with her age. “I don’t want to try and look younger. I don’t want to be desperate about how I’m looking on the screen. I look like my age and I’m okay with it,” she adds.

Mother Teresa and Me is written and directed by Swiss-indian filmmaker Kamal Musale, whom Naval calls ecctremely ‘sensitive’. “He is somebody very sensitive, the smaller little things matter to him. I found him working very comfortably with most, with all his artists,” she signs off.