People in film business have a tendency to gravitate towards depression: Mahesh Bhatt

Having been in the industry for more than four decades, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has seen many artists come and go. The director says the unpredictable nature of Bollywood can drive anyone insane and make them walk away from movies forever.
At the trailer launch of The Dark Side of Life: Mumbai City, Bhatt said it is extremely difficult for an actor or filmmaker to cope with the vulnerable nature of the Hindi film industry.
“It is a high stress business and that’s why not many can do it. That’s why you have people prone to substance abuse, mood swings. You have a tendency to gravitate towards depression because you are dependent continuously. When you show a trailer, you constantly wonder if there’ll be claps. It takes a lot of courage to be on the centre stage and hope that people will shower compliments on you. However big a filmmaker is, the day the film opens, everyone is scared,” Mahesh Bhatt told reporters at the event.
“No one has been saved by this and this is the entertainment industry’s speciality. That’s the way it has been and it’ll remain so. Very few can sustain this, others leave and run away. Even in our industry, a girl gave away her life. She came to us for work once but we couldn’t work together. I still remember seeing her body, the one who came here to work. I’ve seen this side of the city too,” he added.
The director also shared with the media that depression is something he observed quite closely as his own daughter Shaheen Bhatt suffered from clinical depression at the age of 16. Shaheen also attempted suicide as a teenager, Bhatt revealed.
“My daughter Shaheen discovered she’s suffering from clinical depression at 16. She also came to a point of considering suicide at the age of 12-13. This happened at home. She will come up with a memoir in October where she has spoken about depression,” said Mahesh Bhatt who makes his full-fledged acting debut with The Dark Side of Life: Mumbai City.