Gulshan Devaiah Slams Nawazuddin Siddiqui For Calling Depression 'Urban Concept', Says 'I Would Not...'

Nawazuddin Siddiqui recently sparked a debate on social media after he claimed that depression is an urban concept born out of privilege. Days after, the actor was once again asked about his controversial comment when he argued that he will talk about mental health in his native village, he’d be thrashed.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui Reiterates His Statement On Mental Health

“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,” Nawazuddin told NDTV.

However, when asked if people in rural areas aren’t aware of conversations around mental health, the actor said, “It doesn’t exist. Nobody knows about it, nobody has depression in villages. It’s a fact, go check.”

“You see, in cities, people have the habit of glorifying even the smallest problems. Why don’t they see how people with real problems live their lives. Look how they dance on footpaths in the rain, why don’t those people have depression?” the actor added.

Gulshan Devaiah Slams Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Comments

Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s comment has left Gulshan Devaiah disappointed and upset. Recently, Devaiah took to Twitter and slammed the ‘Jogira Sara Ra Ra’ actor. “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,” he wrote.

Gulshan Devaiah further clarified that even though he does not have a rural upringing, he has “close family members who grew up in villages and have very problematic behaviour because they didn’t process their trauma properly and they pass it on to others.”

For the unversed, in his original interview with Mashable India, Nawazuddin Siddiqui had said, “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.”