Shaheen Bhatt has been very vocal about her battle with mental health issues like depression and anxiety. She has also penned down her experiences in the form of a book called I’ve Never Been (Un)Happier. Recently, at a book launch event, she was joined by sisters Alia and Pooja, mother Soni Razdan and father Mahesh Bhatt where they participated in a Q&A session with the media.
BHATTS …. in One frame @MaheshNBhatt @Soni_Razdan @PoojaB1972 #ShaheenBhatt and @aliaa08 #RjAlok pic.twitter.com/ZJn8ciHydK
— RJ ALOK (@OYERJALOK) December 4, 2019
My children are my teachers ! Pooja , Shaheen and Alia at Shaheen’s book launch – I’ve Never Been (UN) Happier. pic.twitter.com/MopgMzLkkJ
— Mahesh Bhatt (@MaheshNBhatt) December 4, 2019
According to NDTV, the filmmaker was outlining the importance of being a good listener and how his daughter would call up her friends and let it all out by crying instead of looking for answers when a journalist questioned, “So you don’t really want answers?”
News18 reports that this made him lose his temper and he went on to explain how when it comes to depression, there are no answers.
“There are no answers! There are pretenders who claim to have answers and they institutionalize those answers and they impose those answers with the butt-end of a gun. Or make it a religion.”
He further added, “Mankind doesn’t have answers. You bullshit to your children, you don’t follow the things that you pretend to preach to them. They see it. I have never pretended to my children that I was in possession of the virtues that people flaunt. That’s why they feel they are not misfits with me. I am a misfit at 71.”
“I can’t expect a young little girl to fit into this sick world where brutality is legitimized. Nothing is wrong with you, darling. The psychiatrist wants to fit you into this brutal world, he is more sick.”
His family was visibly uncomfortable at his outburst and tried to calm him down. After this, Alia called upon the media to continue with another question saying this time, “Papa is not allowed to talk.”
Unlike physical ailments, mental health issues are very subjective and in this context, Mahesh Bhatt’s argument holds true, don’t you think?