Shradul Pandit: Today, everyone is on survival mode. We are not living our lives normally

The actor, who had opened up about his mental health struggles and depression last year, admits he is still working on himself and urges people to take mental health seriously.

The last 18 months have not been great admits Shradul Pandit, who felt that every time things opened up and one decide to do something, things took a bad turn. “Especially with the recent lockdown, it felt that last year’s lockdown never ended! Being locked up in the house for such a long time took its toll. Many projects that were supposed to take off got stalled. I don’t know if they will materialise now or not. Travelling is tough as one can’t meet family so all that has been stressful time for not just me but everyone,” says the actor.

Shardul feels people don’t talk about mental health in the real sense.

Pandit doesn’t shy away from admitting that he was strapped for money. “Financially, many actors have not shooting which means no money and things have been tough for many people in the industry. I expected a long journey in Bigg Boss which didn’t happen. Thankfully, I have been working as radio jockey which helped monetarily and kept me busy. Financially and mentally, my radio job gave me something to do every day as it kept me going. It was something to look forward to,” he shares.

The actor had opened up about his mental health struggles and depression last year. He admits he is still working on himself and urges people to take mental health seriously. “Depression doesn’t happen in one day not does it go away in a snap. I’d opened up about my struggle long in mid-2020 and though I was part of Bigg Boss yet it was a bad time for me. People’s comments that said, ‘you got out too soon’, ‘you didn’t do much on the show’ etc really affected me. I was in a stressful phase and I had to work on not letting go of myself completely. Currently, I am working on my mental health.”

Amid the pandemic, often all people talk about is Covid, test results, medication, sanitisation etc and that’s not helping. “In the last one year, I learnt about many people who lost their parents and /or jobs, so I realised that today, everyone is on survival mode. We are not living our lives normally,” he says.

“Now, I am encouraging people to talk about their mental health as a study says that in the next few months, cases of anxiety, depression and loneliness will rise. We are badly equipped to handle it and don’t talk about mental health in the real sense. Just writing on social media isn’t enough. Most people don’t know what depression is. If someone wants to talk, we don’t know what to do. Telling someone to think positive or be happy isn’t the remedy,” he concludes.