TV actor Samir Sharma’s sudden demise earlier this month left everyone in the industry shocked. Dealing with the loss, Hiten Tejwani, who had worked with Sharma in the TV show Gangaa, recalls him as a happy-go-lucky guy. “Samir would always smile and be excited to do his scenes. I remember meeting him a few years back on our way to Delhi. He was visiting his family. We spoke about a lot of things. I don’t know why this happened but it does disturb you,” recounts Tejwani.

The actor feels that life amid the pandemic somewhat become a never ending struggle and with sad incidents happening one after the other, it takes a toll on everyone’s collective mental health.

The 46-year-old elaborates, “This ‘mask and sanitiser compulsory’ environment and the restrictions of not being able to step out to meet our friends and relatives, is making us frustrated and anxious. Then there is job-related stress. I feel all these combined are affecting our mental health.”

It gets even tougher for those in the entertainment industry, the actor points.

“In the industry, the whole idea is that ‘life goes on’. There’s no time. We do tell people to reach out (if one is feeling low), but it also happens that people avoid your calls when they know you might just talk about what’s bothering you. I hope we realise how much harm it might cause missing that one phone call,” says Tejwani, adding that those who come from other states to join the industry, survival during such times can be really tough.

“It’s better to go home when you know there’s time before work starts. If you’re with family, you’ll have food to eat, emotional support and everything can be sorted,” he says.

Happy that the discussion around mental health is happening, he adds, “It’s also sort of breaking the stigmas attached to it. That was necessary. Only when you talk, you one can find a way out of it.”

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Author tweets @Shreya_MJ