Actress Mahira Khan, who made her debut in Bollywood with Shah Rukh Khan starrer film ‘
Raees
’, once talked candidly about her battle with
mental health
struggle and how a psychiatrist diagnosed her with manic
depression
. The Pakistani actress stated that she has learned to confront her mental health issues, particularly after entering Bollywood with the Shah Rukh Khan film ‘Raees’ and the 2017 incident where images of her smoking with actor Ranbir Kapoor surfaced online.
In an old interview with the FWhy Podcast, Mahira discussed the 2016 Uri attack, which led to the ban on Pakistani actors working in Bollywood. Mahira said, “I had finished the film (Raees) and everything was going fine and then suddenly this attack (Uri attack) happens. Politically everything gets messed. With India, it is always political. But the fact that it could get this messy! I was not scared, but I was threatened. Constant tweets, in fact, I would get calls, and very scary ones. The only thing I wanted was that ‘Okay fine I can’t go to India to promote it (Raees), but I hope it releases in my country because I knew people would rush to watch it as he (Shah Rukh Khan) is loved here (in Pakistan).”
Raees was released in 2017, the same year when her smoking pictures with Ranbir Kapoor went viral on the internet. Looking back on that period, the actor said she had to cope with a lot of criticism, which she described as “unexpected.”
Mahira shared, “That (backlash) brought out the anxiety and depression hidden inside me. That was a hard time for me. I felt attacked. The constant backlash… you are getting mean tweets, comments on their channels (Indian channels). That was a time my faith broke and I developed severe anxiety to the point that one day I had a panic attack and fainted. That’s the first time I went for therapy. But that didn’t work out, as I went to several therapists… that year was rough… I couldn’t sleep, my hands used to shake.”
In the same interview, Mahira further mentioned that she had used
antidepressants
for the past six to seven years. She claimed that although she attempted to leave them in the middle, she instead “went into a very, very dark space and a dark whole.” Additionally, Mahira stated that this was the first time she had disclosed that she had been taking medicine for a long time.
Mahira further added that she has been ‘in and out of hospitals trying to get help’. Everyone experiences “bad times and happy times,” but Mahira added that “clinical depression is like any other mental illness or physical illness.”
Shah Rukh Khan‘s ‘Raees’ became one of the highest-grossing Hindi films of 2017. Raees opened to mixed reviews at the box office. The movie is currently regarded as one of Shah Rukh’s many late 2010s box office failures. It also marked the Bollywood debut of Pakistani actor Mahira Khan and remains the only Hindi film of her career.
Wahaj Ali, Mahira Khan and Other Pak Actors Condemn Lahore Rape Horror | WATCH
