Shreyas Talpade made a massive change to his life after surviving heart attack at 48: ‘Family, then health, and only then work’

 

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“Till the 14th of December I was a man obsessed with work. I have been working non-stop technically for the past 30 years or so. I was just focusing on my career and that was about it. We keep saying that we try to spend quality time with our family but that doesn’t happen, your priority is work and you are running after that,” confesses Shreyas who lived with chronic stress all his life since he made his acting debut in 2002.

He says, “Post that (heart attack) obviously the priorities have changed. Now my priority is my family, my health, and then comes work. So I feel that if you have to be here for a longer time then you have to take it easy. It is like the story of the hare and the tortoise. What I have learnt is that the tortoise goes at its own pace, consistently, slowly, one step at a time, that is all that matters. There are times when the hare keeps running ahead and then getting tired and keep resting, but I don’t think it is a sustainable way of doing things. I don’t think it works like that… You take it slow, take it easy, because there are other more important things in life that are happening around you, especially your family, your child growing up. So what happens to all those things?”

 

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Recounting the day he collapsed due to heart attack and the stressful period he and his family went through when he was receiving treatment at the hospital, Shreyas says those experiences have left him a changed man.

He shared, “In that scenario I felt that this is technically a second life, a second opportunity that not many people get, and I wouldn’t like to abuse it. So I am just taking it easy for now. Luckily this film came, which helped me to get out of the atmosphere that was building up in the house or wherever I go. But at the same time I want to make sure that I take good care of my health, or rather take better care of my health. I used to think that probably I was taking good care but clearly that wasn’t really enough. The perception and priority has changed now, apart from that I am obviously thankful to God. Whatever happened, I am thankful to my wife for whatever she did that night.”

Two months since the fateful day, Shreyas is still recovering. While he has returned to work, he confesses that he’s “going slow”. He says about his family, “I am still recovering physically but it is more important for me to be there with her for her to recover mentally, it takes time to get out of the trauma. It is going to take some time. That’s how I look at it and I would like to tell people, please don’t take your health for granted because it doesn’t work like that. It would take one split second for me to die. There was nothing I could do at that time.”

 

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Shreyas accepts that he was scared for his life. “We hear so many stories, so many incidents (of people losing their lives). I am really taking it slow. I have just started shoot, I am completing a film with two days of work left. They are also taking it slow for me. I am doing just what is needed. This will obviously go on for some time till I fully recover, which will take about four to six months. Post that the doctors have said that I can resume work and become ‘more normal’. But having said that, my priorities have changed now and they’ll remain the way they are,” Shreyas concludes.