/> It has taken the talented Deepa Sahi 25 years to get there.

But this multi-talented woman and the wife of the auteur director Ketan Mehta is finally directing a film.

A light-hearted no-holds-barred romantic film called Na Na Karte Pyar. It will feature Hema Malini and Nana Patekar in a mature but blithe love story.

Says Deepa, "Yes, it has taken me a while to get here. But now I feel right for it. Believe it or not I came into the industry to make films. But then, since I had no support system no sugar daddys or godfathers I was advised to become an actress first."

It was Govind Nihalani who gave Deepa her premier break as an actress in Party. Thereafter the two collaborated on the timeless Partition epic Tamas on television. Deepa's best-known starring role was in her husband Ketan's Maya Memsaab, a splendid adaptation of Flaubert's Madame Bovary of which she's naturally proud.

"Whatever the controversies surrounding the film I look back on Maya Memsaab with much pride and affection. I'd have taken the plunge as a director some years ago. But then I got busy with our special-effects company. I thought it would take me six months to set up. It actually took four years of my life. But I'm proud of it."

And now, finally the vocation she had been waiting for.

"A lot of my husband's films like Maya Memsaab and O Darling Yeh Hai India featured me in the cast. But that was it. Contrary to belief I didn't contribute to the direction. Now with Na Na Karte Pyar I'm ready to take the plunge."

So is the film named after the film's leading man?

She laughs, "No the 'Na Na' is just a coincidence and a happy one. He's such a wonderful actor and a great humanbeing. I wanted to work with him.

As for Hemaji, she's a full-blown diva, no other word for it. I get weak-kneed just looking at her. I wonder how I'll direct her! When I conceived the script I needed two mature people. I don't think Nana and Hema have worked together before."

(They came close to working together in Milan Luthria's Hat Trick but Hema opted out).

Ask her about autumnal romances being in vogue after Hema and the Big B clicked in Baghban and Deepa retorts, "I don't think love or cinema is about age."

Deepa is very clear about the tone of her film. "My husband and I have acquired a reputation for making films that are serious in tone....you know the symposium-festival kind of films. We do have a lighter side to our creativity. In Na Na Karte Pyar we want to have fun."