Deepti Naval

Deepti Naval is an acclaimed Indian actress.

She went to the City University of New York and received her Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts at the Hunter College in Manhattan.

She was at one time married to filmmaker and director Prakash Jha. She was also once involved with actor Nana Patekar, and later engaged to Vinod Pandit before he died.

Naval started her film career with Ek Baar Phir in 1980. She is known to be a sensitive actress and was a part of the art films and light films of the 80's. Saath Saath, Chashme Buddoor and Mirch Masala are some of her films from the era.

She also starred in the critically acclaimed Punjabi film Marhi Da Diva (1989). She was often cast with Farooq Shaikh. Though considered as talented as Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil she somehow did not achieve the same stature in terms of awards or memorable casts.

Once she moved out of lead roles, she portrayed character roles in mainstream Hindi films but was not satisfied with the roles she got and took a break. Later, she made a comeback of sorts with films like Bawandar and Freaky Chakra.

Naval was recognized as the 2007 Tribute Honoree of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.