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I am not putting pressure on myself to be productive right now: Shruti Haasan
The actor is living all alone in Mumbai during this lockdown
Being in the lockdown for almost three weeks now, actor Shruti Haasan, who is living all alone with her cat for company in Mumbai, has learnt that she enjoys her own company. “The most challenging for me, at this point, is the inability to work and travel. And the latter has made me a little bit angsty. But I value this time as well,” she says. She works out daily, cooks, practices the piano ad takes care of her cat, which gives her “a sense of routine”.
“But I am not putting pressure on myself to be productive as it is the worst thing we could do. It’s the time of heavy anxiousness and nervousness for everybody including financial worries, emotional concerns and mental well being. So, it wouldn’t be the time to push productivity. After constantly working on movies back-to-back, I had taken a break from work two years ago and ever since that I realise that one should take a break to balance work with some free time,” Haasan shares.
The actor points out that situations like these can “bring out the best or the worst in people”. She is glad to see people positively help and support each other and how we are able to value the “small things we were taking for granted”. She adds, “But the xenophobia and discrimination around the world is really upsetting and I feel if something like this pandemic can’t unite us, then I don’t know what will.”
While her peers have been chatting with friends or media outlets, Haasan did live Instagram chat with seven “inspiring” women, who shared their views on anxiety, music, body image issues, mental health, sisterhood among other topics. “I have always believed in the power of sisterhood and have met many interesting women through my work. So, other than my friends, I spoke to some women on different aspects of life which I thought would help other women,” she says, adding “One of the women spoke about taking career defining or life changing decisions, anxiety, depression and how to have tools to work through it. My second chat was with a neuro-linguistic reprogrammer and life coach, who helped understand how we can deal with anxiety. My friend and actor Tamannaah spoke about sisterhood and solidarity among women, while a dancer-musician and a mum friend from America came up with incredible activities for kids.”
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