Unlike in Bollywood, where celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Sharukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Ileana D'Cruz have been vocal about their mental health and depression issues, southern actors rarely speak about such problems. However, actor Vishnu Vishal has opened up about his struggles with depression and alcoholism following his divorce, separation from his son, work pressure and an injury.
In an emotional post, the actor revealed that he went the Vaaranam Aayiram Suriya way to overcome the problems.
"I wish to share something about myself today. My journey so far has been a blessed one, marred by ups and downs just like anyone else's. But the last two and a half years have been extremely difficult, filled with dark days and darker nights," he wrote.
He described how his divorce after 11 years of marriage, being away from his young son, stress and sleeplessness all piled up and took a significant toll on his health, a situation compounded by a surgery following an injury during the shooting of Kaadan with Prabhu Solomon.Vishnu talked of the heavy losses his production house suffered, and recounted how, despite his Raatsasan becoming a hit, he had missed out on eight movies with leading directors.
One day, he realized that he wanted to pull himself together and take control of his life. He took treatment for depression and turned to fitness routines. Today, he is a changed man who is able to focus on himself and work.
Vaaranam Aaiyram is an award-winning film directed by Gautham Menon, in which the hero Suriya goes through a similar dark phase due to a personal debacle, before turning to physical fitness to get his life back on track.
Gautham Menon took to Twitter and thanked Vishnu for letting everyone know that the Vaaranam Aayiram way still works. In turn, Vishnu posted, "Thank you for inspiring me sir and yes it sure does work. Another powerful example of quality cinema meeting reality and staying relevant over the years."
