Behind the Bollywodd’s bright lights, several leading actors have been confronting private battles that few could imagine. In recent years, stars like Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Manisha Koirala, Bobby Deol, and Nushrat Bharucha have opened up about their struggles with depression and setbacks, conversations that are slowly reshaping the way mental health is viewed in India.

Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone has been among the most vocal about her condition. She has described her depression as “the most painful thing” she had ever faced. “Every day, it takes work to make sure that I don’t have a relapse. But I am now able to say that I’m grateful for the experience because it made me a better person,” she told Vogue in an interview in the past. Her husband, Ranveer Singh, recalled on Koffee With Karan how he once found her “sitting at breakfast with tears flowing,” moments that left him feeling helpless.

Bobby Deol

Actor Bobby Deol, whose three-decade career was interrupted by a long stretch of failures, admitted that the lack of work pushed him into depression and substance abuse. In the late 2000s, he even worked as a DJ in clubs before eventually staging a comeback.

Manisha Koirala

For Manisha Koirala, who survived ovarian cancer in 2012, depression was an aftershock of her illness. While filming Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Heeramandi, she said her mood swings often overwhelmed her. “Even now sometimes I work in depression… I was just like, ‘Sail through this phase. Once this is out, focus on your health,’” she told NDTV in an interview last year.

Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra Jonas has revealed her darkest phase came after a botched nose surgery in the early 2000s. The procedure, she said, left her unrecognizable. “I went into a deep, deep depression. I thought my career was over before it started,” she told The Howard Stern Show. Nicknamed “Plastic Chopra” in the press, she stayed away from public appearances until her father encouraged her to undergo corrective surgeries. “Now when I look in the mirror, I’ve made peace with this slightly different me,” she later wrote in her memoir Unfinished.

Nushrat Bharucha

Younger actors too have spoken up. Nushrat Bharucha, known for Dream Girl, said family and friends became her anchor. “There was just a voice in me that I will get through this. Keeping that faith, I would get through the day,” she recalled in an interview.

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