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Actor Imran Khan, who has been away from the limelight since 2015’s Katti Batti, has been engaging with his fans on social media for the last few months. Unlike many actors who fade away from public consciousness, Imran has been getting a warm reception from his fans, and this has started a conversation about a possible comeback in the movies. In a recent interview, Imran opened up about how a “mental health scare” made him reevaluate his life, and convinced him that stepping away from films would be the best thing to do.
In a chat with Film Companion, Imran said that he had a “mental health scare” that made him realise that he isn’t “healthy, strong, capable.” Imran said that it was around 2016-2017 that he “started to make (his mental health his) priority.” Imran said that he realised that “being an actor is optional, these things are not optional” as he started prioritising his wellbeing.
When asked where he’d disappeared for all these years, Imran said that he “removed” himself from the trappings of the film industry because he was “not able to engage with any part of it.” He added that it was not that difficult to walk away from the glamorous and seductive life of the movies because he wasn’t enamoured by it in the first place.
“The week before Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na released, nobody could have given a damn if I walked on the street; the week after it released, suddenly there are people chasing my car,” he said and added, “A film doesn’t do well, the same industry people who were chomping at the bit to show up and pat me on the back suddenly are like, ‘You are out of season, you are the wrong kind of flavour’.”
Imran opened up about this phase in his life, and said that when he stepped away, he missed the movies but he was primarily spending his time nursing himself back to health. “In those years, I was just not capable of doing these things. I was barely capable of functioning. When you are tackling deep and severe depression, just getting up in the morning and brushing your teeth and taking a shower is a monumental task,” he said, and mentioned that making it to his regular therapy appointments was a task in itself.
Imran said that he has never tried to cling on to the fame he had, in fact, he tried his best to disappear. “I did my best to disappear. I did not engage via those threads. You know how desperately people cling on to the spotlight, I didn’t. I did exactly the opposite of what you are supposed to do to stay relevant. Yet here we are, and here I am,” he said.
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