Veteran Bollywood actress Deepti Naval recently spoke about battling depression after marriage as she stopped getting roles in films.
“When I got married, I stopped acting. It was as if my talent had completely died out.” Basanti gives color Star in English Sahitya Aaj Tak 2022 held in Delhi India Today.
Deepti, who married filmmaker Prakash Jha in 1985 and divorced in 2002, continued, “It happened, I went through that phase. There were years when I didn’t have a job. I didn’t know. That’s what’s going on because I’ve always seen myself as an artist.
“If you don’t have to work or create, who are you? I had to find a way back. That was one of the things that caused me depression,” the 70-year-old recalled.
Deepti also talked about the “casting couch” and how Bollywood has “reinvented” itself over the years, saying, “Bollywood is reinventing itself. Today, it’s all casting directors. And you don’t get that easy access to producers and directors. There’s a whole system that everything has to go through the casting directors.
“The industry is going through a huge change right now. It’s also facing a lot of criticism. The casting couch has always been there. The concept of insider and outsider was there to an extent. But it wasn’t talked about. ,” the actress explained.
Deepti added, “You had to find your way into the industry by solving these problems. You knew it was there.”
Meanwhile, on the work front, the actress will next be seen in a new film. Goldfish With Kalki Koechlin.