ISLAMABAD, May 24th (Online): Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s remarks about depression and mental health were slammed by Gulshan Devaiah. He cited the example of alcoholism in rural India.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui had said in a recent interview that nobody in the villages is ever depressed and that city-dwellers ‘glorify their emotions’. The actor’s remarks on depression faced widespread criticism on social media. Now, actor Gulshan Devaiah has tweeted about Nawazuddin’s take on mental health, and called it ‘Dhritarashtra and Gandhari syndrome’.
The actor tweeted that although he had immense respect for Nawazuddin because of ‘his craft’, he could not possibly take his recent statement about mental health seriously. Gulshan Devaiah said ‘alcoholism or addictions’ exist in rural communities and they are mental illnesses. He added ‘no addict indulges in addiction’ out of love, the ‘real problem’ is the trauma they face.
Gulshan had shared a video of Nawazuddin from an interview with NDTV, where he explained his recent remark about depression and mental health, and called it ‘his experience’.
Gulshan tweeted on Wednesday, “Dhritarashtra and Gandhari syndrome. I immensely respect the man for his craft, but I’d not take him seriously on this issue. If you even just look at alcoholism or addictions, they exist in rural communities and that’s mental illness. No addict indulges in addiction because they love it. The addiction is a symptom, the real problem is the trauma they can’t heal.”
The actor was referring to Gandhari from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, who was the wife of Dhritarashtra, the blind king of Hastinapura. As per Mahabharata, it is believed that she wore a blindfold in order to live like her blind husband.
When a Twitter user asked Gulshan, “If I may ask you what is ‘Dhritarashtra and Gandhari syndrome’?, the actor tweeted in response, “Some are blind and others blindfolded. If they don’t see, it don’t exist.”
Nawazuddin Siddiqui slammed for remarks on depression
Nawazuddin Siddiqui was criticised after he had said in a recent interview that depression is an urban issue and that rural India doesn’t suffer from mental illnesses. He also said that pavement dwellers in a city don’t struggle with depression either.
Talking to Mashable India, Nawazuddin had recently said depression is an alien concept for people living in villages. He said, “I come from a place where, if I would tell my father that I am feeling depressed, he would give me one tight slap… Depression waha nahi tha, kisi ko bhi nahi hota waha depression, sab khush hai (No one gets depression in villages, everyone is happy there). But I learnt about anxiety, depression, bipolar after coming to the city.”
Many on Twitter, slammed the actor for his ‘ignorant’ remark on depression, others said his comments highlighted the need for greater education on mental health. Filmmaker Lakshmi Iyer had tweeted, “Mental health conditions don’t discriminate and neither should we. @Nawazuddin_S, your voice has reach for right and wrong both. Depression is REAL for all.
While there are many ways to take care of physical health… we still need so much more education with regard to mental health. Depression isn’t determined based on age, gender, background, profession, ethnicity or domicile…”
She further tweeted, “His statement – The actor called depression an ‘urban concept’ and stated that people glorify their emotions in the cities. Nawazuddin stated that no one is diagnosed with depression in his village and that he got to know about mental health-related subjects like anxiety and depression and bipolar disorder, after coming to the city.”
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