The sudden death of television actor Vaishali Takkar has raised many eyebrows. On October 15, she was found hanging at her Indore residence. On Monday, a couple – Rahul Navlani and Disha Navlani – was booked by Madhya Pradesh police for allegedly harassing and abetting the late actor. Takkar, in her five-page suicide note, claimed that Navlani, who is apparently her ex-boyfriend, was harassing her and threatened to kill her if she married someone else.
Former actor Somy Ali, who has often been vocal about issues pertaining to mental health and suicide, says that Takkar’s demise ‘is the saddest news ever’. “Suicide rates have become rampant in the past two years. Again, I blame us for not caring. It takes less than a millisecond to ask someone how they are doing. That’s literally all we have to do. We have to take the time to talk to someone about their mental health,” says the 46-year-old, who currently runs an NGO in the US called No More Tears and helps domestic abuse victims and rape victims through her organisation.
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Commenting on the development in the case, the Aao Pyaar Karen (1994) and Andolan (1995) actress states, “I can’t begin to fathom the pain this young woman must have been enduring to take such a drastic step. My heart goes out to her family and losing her is a tremendous loss. While we don’t have access to literal facts about why Vaishali took her own life, there is speculation about harassment from her ex-boyfriend. If that’s in fact true, the authorities need to dig deeper and hold him accountable for the pain he was putting her through.”
Ali asserts that the idea is to lend an ear and support to anyone going through a tough time even if that means putting our own problems aside. She elaborates, “Ultimately, we need to be less self-absorbed and listen to anyone who might be hurting emotionally. Depression, heartache and sadness are all very real emotions and many people experience these emotions, be it genetics or their circumstances. It is significant for us to interject and take a look into our loved ones psyche to make sure we can give them the help they require. This will literally save lives.”
Somy further adds, “Imagine a world where we can stop the rate of suicides by simply listening. We are losing people very quickly and far too frequently through suicides. Enough is enough! We better wake up and teach ourselves how to care for others rather than only ourselves. If we don’t change this selfish lifestyle there will inevitably be more lives lost. We are approaching 2023 and it’s high time that we eradicate the stigma of addressing mental health. We don’t have a choice now but to care and involve ourselves in the lives of those we care for to make sure they are okay. ‘How are you?’ should not be just pleasantries exchanged rather actually asking one if they are doing okay.”
