Why are only actors committing “suicide”?

Saurabh Tankha

Sushant Singh Rajput, Manmeet Grewal, Preksha Mehta and today, Samir Sharma. Are you also thinking on the lines similar to what I am wondering about – why is it that only people who have “faced the arc lights” on the small screen are choosing to commit “suicides”? Are actors the only “depressed, mentally unstable, psychologically sick and low on confidence” community in the industry? Do problems like financial uncertainty, unemployment and fear of Covid-19 not affect others – cameramen, spot boys, editors, writers, directors and many more – of the same community?

It seems the Mumbai Police have gotten into the habit of passing most of these cases as “suicides”, but I feel there is something more sinister, something much more to all this than meets the eye. Among all the cases, it was only in Preksha’s case that a suicide note was found. So how can the other cases be passed off as suicides, I wonder!

Also, don’t we know that a person can be made to write a suicide note forcibly? Surely, cops cannot be that naïve. Or are they? The conduct of the Mumbai Police puts a huge question before us? Have they genuinely overlooked other angles to these deaths, or is it that they have chosen to overlook, deliberately? I don’t know, but such a spate of deaths is surely astoundingly shocking!

The news of actor Samir Sharma, found hanging from a ceiling fan in his rented home in Chincholi Bunder locality of Malad (West) in Mumbai, yesterday has once again raked up all these questions, especially in the absence of a “suicide” note.

Was the 44-year-old actor, best known for his role in Yeh Rishety Hain Pyaar Ke, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Jyoti, Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Du, and Left Right Left, suffering from depression? Was he under financial stress? Wasn’t he getting any roles? Was it failed love that drove him to depression? What was it? I want to know. We all want to know. The nation wants to know.

It is time Mumbai Police digs in deep and brings out the truth…