Indian actress Sonali Bendre talks mental health and her web series ‘The Broken News’

Gulf News

‘The Broken News’ star talks about her role in the drama and her own struggles  Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/bollywood/video-bollywood-actress-sonali-bendre-talks-mental-health-and-making-a-fierce-comeback-with-the-broken-news-1.90571843  See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km  Subscribe to Gulf News on YouTube and watch more of our videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/GulfNewsTV  #UAEnews #sonalibendre #thebrokennews

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00:00when you're in a hospital bed and when you say that if I stay alive what would I really like to

00:03do and you suddenly realize oh I would like to be in front of the camera oh I didn't realize I

00:08enjoyed being in front of the camera so much so that was a that was a realization and but

00:17I was very sure I didn't want to do what I had done.

00:22I think films also give you that where there's so many actors that you I identify with and I feel

00:27like I know them because I identify with them probably the films I did you didn't identify

00:33with as much and you know that's why you didn't feel it in that that's my bad and the kind of

00:38movies that I did but otherwise I think that the whole thing about acting is that and we love our

00:43actors and there's so many so it's not just the OTT I think that's the medium so I'm so glad that

00:53you've connected with this character because I connected with this character too I remember

01:00you know people asking me okay there were so many things that I did not really do before Broken News

01:05came to me which were probably shows that I would be headlining Broken News is a show that I'm not

01:10headlining and it's an on-film cast and it's a lovely cast I mean Jaideep is such a strong actor

01:16and Shreya a beautiful actor so but that was fun for me you know the challenge was to work with

01:24them and not look like an outsider because they are in on what is happening now they are the

01:29actors that are working now and so to work with them and not stand out as an outsider was very

01:35very important. And how difficult was it to make a comeback at 47? You know today with the platforms

01:45that are available not very difficult in that sense but I think I would say difficult is not

01:53the word challenging would be the thing I think for me the challenge was to break out of the

01:59pattern that I was in the image so to say that was there and that was very difficult to do it's

02:05taken me a very long time to break out of that image but in between I had started working again

02:12I came with a television series and it went into the same pattern very quickly it started off as

02:16being something different but it went into the same pattern very quickly and that's the time

02:22when I decided okay this is not working for me shut it down and till this doesn't change I don't

02:27think I want to work in fiction. I kept doing the reality that I was doing and yeah all that was

02:34there but now it took a while for those kind of stories also to start coming so every time

02:41they would come with the story I would say that this is not what I want it's great you do it but

02:45this is not what I want to do but if you have something which is like this then I would be

02:49interested so it's taken me a long time of constantly telling people not what you're

02:54bringing I appreciate it I love that you're coming to me but this is not what I'm looking for I would

02:59love it if you're looking for something else so getting people to look at me in a different way

03:04was the challenge when I took the break I was like okay I'm in a different phase of my life and I

03:08don't feel like doing what I'm doing so I'll just do what I feel like doing and continued with the

03:14other thing it's not like I missed this actually I realized how much I enjoyed four years back

03:21like I said when you're in a hospital bed and when you say that if I stay alive what would I really

03:25like to do and you suddenly realize oh I would like to be in front of the camera oh I didn't

03:30realize I enjoyed being in front of the camera so much so that was a that was a realization

03:36and but I was very sure I didn't want to do what I had done I was done with that phase of my life

03:43that my mindset is not that and I did not want to do that unless I could do it

03:50like I keep saying the age that I am the mindset that I am I want to play that kind of characters

03:56no it's age appropriate it has to be because I don't want to be you know I think I've earned

04:01these lines that I have on my face I earned them I'm proud of them I have lived a life

04:06I think I've lived a good life and if that shows I think I appreciate when I see lines

04:13because I think it shows character and I'm sure there are people in the world like me who will

04:18appreciate that and you're fantastic on social media as well I love your social media persona

04:23my team is lovely are they doing it or are you doing it my team is beautiful the girls I have

04:29they're fantastic you're surrounding yourself with a girl tribe is it a girl tribe who thinks

04:34like me who I can resonate with and they've been with me for the longest time and we have mutual

04:41respect nothing goes on that I don't approve of but of course and of course I'm very much on it

04:49but we are after a point there are times when they keep me sane and say calm down just take a breath

04:56this will pass let's do it tomorrow and you were right I don't think I want to rant about this and

05:01then it just calms down so yeah having a team that kind of you know kind of shows you the

05:07saner side is good so for me I think mental health came into play with with my treatment itself and I

05:13think when I spoke about cancer and spoke about how you need early detection I have very openly

05:18spoken about how you need to take care of your mental health because that is what is going to

05:22take you or help you get through it and I spoke not only about the mental health of the patient

05:28but the mental health of the primary caregivers and I've been very very insistent yeah vocal about

05:33it is very important because the patient still gets the attention and everybody is kind of there

05:40to help but you know the primary caregivers they are going through so much too so they need that

05:46counseling and the help also so that is something that I've been talking about I've been very open

05:52about saying that during COVID also when I fell off the wagon I went into therapy and I was very

05:58vocal about saying that how it's important to identify it and seek help there's no harm in

06:06saying that I don't think I can deal with it I need help it's okay all of us go through it that

06:11doesn't make you weaker or you know you need to do that and you need to identify it and that's

06:19the thing like I said falling off the wagon for me I identified that if I fall off it it takes me

06:24a long time to get back onto it it's not worth it for me.

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