New Delhi: Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s recent comment over depression being an ‘urban concept’ received a lot of flak. The actor reiterated his comment in a new interview when asked about the same.
When asked about his comment in a new interview with NDTV. The actor said in Hindi, “I was just narrating my experience. It’s possible I’m wrong. But even today, if I were to go to my village, which is just three hours away, and say that I have depression, I’d get slapped. They’d tell me to eat food and go to the fields.”
Asked if he meant that people in rural areas are not aware of mental health, the actor said, “It doesn’t exist. Nobody knows about it, nobody has depression in villages. It’s a fact, go check.”
He also said that people in cities ‘glorify their emotions.’
Reacting to Nawazuddin’s comment, actor Gulshan Devaiah shared a link of the actor’s interview and tweeted, “ "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."
A user asked: "If I may ask you what is "Dritharashtra & Gandhari syndrome" Don't mind please, I m curious to know."
To which, Gulshan replied: "Some are blind and others blindfolded. If they don't see, it don't exist."
In another tweet, Gulshan wrote: "The problem with the term Mental illnesses is the word "illnesses... That scares the shit out of people. Me including. In our minds mental & illness together means Paagal."
Earlier, in an interview with Mashable India, Nawzuddin Siddiqui had referred to depression as an urban concept and said that people in villages never experience it.
“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,” he said in the interview.
He went on to say that city dwellers "glorify" the smallest of feelings. “Ye shehro mein aake hoti hai, yaha pe har aadmi apne chhote emotions ko bhi bohot glorify karta hai (This is an urban concept, people in cities glorify their emotions),” he added.