Gulshan Devaiah reacts to Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s comment on depression
In a new interview with NDTV, when Nawazuddin Siddiqui was asked about his comments on depression, Nawazuddin said, “Mai to apna experience bata raha hu. Ho sakta hai main galat hu, meri jo cheez hai wo galat ho jaaye saabit. But mai agar abhi bhi apne gaav me jaake bolu ki mujhe thoda depression ho gaya hai, toh mujhe thappad padega. Ki ‘kya hota hai depression?’ (I was just narrating my experience. It’s possible I’m wrong. But even today, if I were to go to my village, and say that I have depression, I’d get slapped).” Nawazuddin, who hails from a village named Budhana in Uttar Pradesh, went on to say that people in cities have the habit of glorifying even the smallest problems. “Unka dekho na jo footpath pe bhi baithke baarish me dance kar rahe hain. Unko to hota nahi hai depression. (Look how people sitting on the footpath dance in the rain. Why don’t those people have depression?” he said.
Reacting to this video, Gulshan Devaiah wrote on Twitter, “Dritharashtra & 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.”
