Gems we lost in the darkness of depression and suicide
“Arre yaar itta paisa tha sab tha, depression mein kaise agaya”, “itta name, fame tha, suicide kaisi karli” people often connect mental stability or mental conditions with fame, name and money. Without realizing how hurtful and disrespectful it is for the person suffering from such dark conditions, without even how wrong it is to connect someone’s mental illness with his/her status or success in life.
This takes us into the life of those famous and true talents who get lost in the bling of a field like Bollywood and quit their life and kill themselves due to the severely depressed and dark conditions they are pushed into from the external forces of the industry, we can’t even imagine of. Recently, the untimely and shockingly unbelievable demise of Bollywood’s lovable boy Sushant Singh Rajput who was found dead in his Bandra house on Sunday morning, has brought the revolution in the history of Bollywood as people are immensely heartbroken and outraged with the news and the possible reasons for him to commit suicide. After a memorable debut in Abhishek Kapoor’s Kai Po Che, Sushant also starred in the 2016 biopic—M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and just excelled in his work with time.
With this, we are also reminded of many other faces who were lost somewhere in the bling of this industry and had died due to depression:
- Preksha Mehta(2020) – Crime Patrol actress Preksha Mehta committed suicide recently on May 26, 2020, in her residence in Indore. She was suffering from depression and expressed her disappointments regarding her career and failed relationships in her suicide note.
2. Kushal Punajbi(2019) – Kushal Punjabi, the winner of “Zor ka Jhatka – Total Wipeout” in 2011, a TV Reality show was suffering from depression. He was found dead on December 26, 2019, in his residence. He started his career as a dancer and model and acted in movies like “Salaam-e-Ishq”, “Kaal”, “A Gentleman”.
3. Pratyusha Banerjee(2016) – Pratyusha was found dead in her Mumbai apartment on April 1, 2016. Known for her role as ‘Anandi’ in the popular TV show Balika Vadhu, she was also a contestant in Bigg Boss 7 and also starred in Hum Hain Na, Sasural Simar Ka, and Gulmohar Grand.
4. Jiah Khan(2013) – British- American actor Jiah Khan, who made her debut in Bollywood in Ram Gopal Verma’s “Nishabd” which earned her a nomination for Filmfare award for Best Female Debut and later, she also gave a notable performance in “Ghajini”, committed suicide on June 3, 2013. Sooraj Pancholi was charged with abetting Jiah’s suicide in 2018 by a court in Mumbai.
5. Guru Dutt(1964) – One of India’s leading actors, film director, and also a producer in the 1950s and 60s, Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone, known as Guru Dutt was found dead in his rented apartment in Pedder Road in Mumbai, on October 10, 1964. He was reported to have mixed alcohol with sleeping pills. His death could have been a suicide or a case of accidental overdose. He had made two attempts at suicide earlier. He featured in classics such as Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam, and Chaudhvin Ka Chand. CNN included him in Asia’s Top 25 actors of all time in 2010.
6. VijayaLakshmi(1996) – Known as Silk Smitha in Tamil Cinema who appeared in over 450 films in her career which spanned 17 years and became an iconic sex symbol, died on September 23, 1996, at the age of 33 in Chennai. She is claimed to have committed suicide because of extreme depression over a debt accumulated from producing movies.
