Learn English with Deepika Padukone. At the 2017 India Economic Summit, celebrated Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone shares her deeply personal journey with depression. She reflects on the turning points, the vital role of support systems, and her mission to break stigma through her foundation. Her story is a call to treat mental health with the same respect as physical health.
Who This Speech Is For
Learners interested in mental health awareness, personal resilience, and social change.
Those wanting to discuss stigma, emotional well-being, and the importance of support systems.
Intermediate to advanced learners studying conversational yet impactful interview-style speeches.
How This Speech Helps Your English
Learn vocabulary and expressions related to mental health, emotions, and advocacy.
Understand how to tell personal stories to inspire empathy and change.
Observe how speakers balance facts, personal experience, and calls to action.
Hear examples of how to handle sensitive topics with clarity and compassion.
Why This Speech Matters
Breaks the silence around depression in a culture where it’s often misunderstood.
Encourages open conversations to reduce stigma and promote early help-seeking.
Highlights the role of caregivers and workplaces in supporting mental health.
Inspires individuals to see vulnerability as a form of strength.
”There’s hope beyond the darkness
Transcript
Barkha Dutt: Well, hello everyone. When we as Indians imagine ourselves a certain way, how the world looks at us, I think we think of ourselves as this raucous, can-do democracy. And some of us may be shocked to discover that while we are all of that, we are also the most depressed country in the world. I’m not sure how many of you actually knew that. Because when I discovered it, it was a real revelation to me. That 36% of us as Indians are or will be depressed at some point in our lives. Let me share another statistic before I introduce my guest this morning. 371 people at last count, 371 Indians killed themselves every day. That was approximately more than one lakh 34 thousand people kill themselves every year in India. And yet, the irony is that we continue to see depression and mental health issues as some sort of self-indulgence, as some sort of problem of the rich and famous, as not really where the priority of science and medicine should be. Well, here we are in conversation with two people who are going to tell us why that needs to change and that needs to change yesterday.
First up, somebody who actually does not need an introduction. We know her from our cinema. She’s one of our most celebrated actors. But she’s somebody I admire for a different reason. In addition to her star power and her talent, she decided to go public with a deeply personal and intimate story on her own struggle with depression. In fact, in a one-hour nationally televised interview with me. And then wanted to follow it up with concrete action. So actually created a foundation to help others who grapple with the same issues. Deepika, once again, I must compliment you on your courage, because it does take courage and it takes courage for somebody like you, even more than all of us in this room, to talk about our struggles because you’re in the public gaze. There are a hundred things that will be said, that have been said, including really low level things like, “Oh, she’s probably just doing this to promote her next film.” Right? And I know, because I was in that conversation with you when you broke your silence on this on television, how difficult it was for you, how painful, how raw when you talk about it. And therefore, I’m going to say sorry, because I am going to, in a sense, put you through that moment again, because there are people in this room who may not be familiar with your own story. So let me start by asking you, when did you know that you were depressed? When did you start calling it depressed? And why did you, this fantastical woman on our screens, decide to go public with something so personal?
Deepika Padukone: I think it started with just a feeling. It started with just a feeling of not being completely there, of feeling like… we spoke about that pittish feeling in your stomach and just breaking down for no reason. And truly just feeling completely lost and not understanding what was happening to me. And I think it was the intervention of my mother, who was visiting me at that time. And I think I lived with it for a while actually. I was filming a movie at that time and I had no idea what I was going through. And I’d go to work every day. I’d literally have to pull myself out of bed and go to work. And my mother just happened to visit me, completely different context. And the day she was leaving, I remember breaking down. I was extremely surprised actually today when I think back at how aware she was of what I was going through. And the first thing she did was to call a family friend and Anna Chandy, who’s a counselor. But today when I think back, and of course I was hesitant at that point because I wasn’t aware of what I was going through. And at the same time, for me, Anna is someone who’s also family friend, so I think that’s where I sought comfort. But at the same time, I don’t know if I would have done the same thing if I didn’t have that comfort level. But it was my mother who really sort of identified the symptoms and immediately called her up. And in one phone conversation with Anna, she sort of understood what I was going through. But at the same time, I think it’s the way she dealt with me and with the situation at that point. She didn’t raise any alarms. She made me feel like it was completely normal and okay and that we will get through this. And then of course, with her and Dr. Shanbhat, who have worked on me, so I think initially I was also reluctant to take medication. But I think at one point I was just extremely exhausted. I couldn’t do it anymore. And I think that’s when I decided… I said, “Okay, let me start medication. Let me accept this help that people are willing to give me.” And today there’s a lot more awareness. I don’t think I can say that I’m completely over it, but it’s always a fear at the back of my mind that I might always have a relapse because it’s been such a bad experience for me.
Barkha Dutt: What was the most… I remember you telling me that you felt that pit in your stomach, you felt empty, you felt directionless, that you would lock yourself in your vanity van and sometimes just cry and you did not know why you were crying, that sometimes it helped to have people around, but sometimes it was the exact opposite. That sense of being closed in by a crowd when you’re feeling isolated within yourself.
Deepika Padukone: It helped having people I was close to and familiar with. It was comforting to have them around because then I could break down if I felt like and if I had questions or thoughts in my head, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask. But at the same time, if I was in front of the media or at an event, which happened many, many times, that’s when I’d feel a bit suffocated because I didn’t want to break down in public. And this is before I made up my mind to go public with what I was dealing with. Today, if that happens to me, if I ever go back to that space, and I hope I don’t, I don’t think I’d think twice about exposing the way I feel. And I think a large part of one’s road to recovery is to accept what you’re going through and to not challenge it, but to embrace it. And to actually allow your body and your mind to go through that experience and know that there is a road ahead that will get you out of all of this. And it’s not an individual… I don’t think I could have done it on my own. I think it’s very important to have that support system. So while people credit me for coming out and speaking out, I think it’s equally important for caregivers to acknowledge and for us to acknowledge that it’s important for them to be with us on this journey.
Barkha Dutt: Now, before I get Dr. Duraiswamy in, I want you to talk a little bit about the continued… the continued stigma associated with mental health issues, with depression in particular. Even today, if I were to be honest, in terms of eliciting responses here, even in this room with very educated, very aware people, in drawing rooms you will hear lose and idle chatter saying, “Oh, why is Deepika depressed? She has everything. She has money. She has fame. She has talent. She’s going places.” Depression is treated as an indulgence. Like only people who have no real problems are depressed. So when you came out in that conversation and millions of people saw it online on television, read about it, were you worried that the people are going to be horribly mean? And were some people horribly mean?
Deepika Padukone: No. I don’t think anyone was mean, but… I didn’t even think about it. I didn’t think about the repercussions. I think the idea…
Barkha Dutt: You didn’t have a moment of how will this impact my public image?
Deepika Padukone: No, not at all. I think for me the idea really was to just change the way people in India and in the world look at mental illness and give it the respect that it needs. I think the idea really was to just change the conversation because I had experienced like literally a pre and post. And I lived with it for a couple of months without sharing it with anyone. And then today I feel so much lighter and so much better when I’ve come out and I’ve spoken about my journey. And I know a lot of other people who do. There’s not a single day where I’ve probably not met someone who has come up to me and said, “Thank you for sharing the story.” But what’s also helped them is the fact that they’ve then shared their story with someone saying, “I know what Deepika has been through because I’m going through the exact same thing.” And they instantly feel a lot lighter.
Barkha Dutt: What was the toughest thing about that phase of your life? Was it feeling like nobody’s going to understand? Was it the sense of losing control? Was it the sense of surrendering almost, like you almost have to surrender to it before you can get better? You can’t fight it. A lot of people think it’s mind over matter, but actually depression is matter of a kind, and I’m going to talk to the doc about it in a second. What was the toughest thing about that phase of your life?
Deepika Padukone: The phase itself. The phase itself. I think before the intervention, I think before I understood, before my mother saw it, before anyone else saw it, to have to wake up every morning, to drag myself to work, to put on this face like everything’s okay when deep down inside I had no reason why I was where I was and what I was doing. Life just felt like there was no purpose. I didn’t feel like… It made absolutely no sense. Just life made no sense. So for me, I think that was the toughest part.
Barkha Dutt: Deepika, when you first started taking treatment, and I’m saying even before the medication, did you find it really difficult to not outsmart your therapist? Because what a lot of us who think of ourselves as reasonably intelligent, we say we know ourselves. We know ourselves and what are you going to tell me, some stranger sitting on a couch that I don’t already know about myself? Talk a little bit about that process. I mean, how difficult is it to walk into this room and start bearing your soul to another person who even if in your case was a family friend? There are still barriers and the thing about taking help for depression, it’s a little bit like when we get a surgery, we don’t care if our doctor sees us nude because we have to take our clothes off and get that anaesthesia and get that treatment. So this is like bearing your soul. It is bearing your soul to somebody and it’s tough. So talk a little bit about that process of getting help and the obstacles you had to jump over within yourself?
Deepika Padukone: I think for me, there was this stigma before.
Barkha Dutt: Not once you started?
Deepika Padukone: Yeah, but once I made up my mind, once I decided that, you know, I’m like, I’m done, I can’t live like this anymore. I want to get better, I need to get better. And then it was a deep dive. There’s no halfway. I don’t know if there is, but it wasn’t for me. So the day I decided to then seek help and speak about it and speak to my parents, speak to my sisters, speak to my doctors, then I’d share everything with them.
Barkha Dutt: No barriers, no holding back?
Deepika Padukone: No, no. Every question that they asked, everything they wanted to know, past, present, whatever they wanted to know, I shared everything with them.
Barkha Dutt: Deepika, one of the things we didn’t speak about is, why did you decide to go public? The foundation I’ll come to, but you didn’t confine to sharing your story to your mother and father and your therapist. You actually took it out to the country, to the world, and that could not have been easy. And I remember one of the things you said was that “if I can change even one life, this was worth it.”
Deepika Padukone: Yeah.
Barkha Dutt: But you must have wrestled with that choice at some point. Do I keep it within the home? Do I take it public? And I bring it back to the fact that you live in the public gaze, which makes your going public with it a different narrative than from, if she went public with it. So what made you say, not just am I going to get better, I’m going to tell this story to everybody who cares to listen to it?
Deepika Padukone: I think it was at multiple levels, Barkha. I think one, like I said, after having been through what I did, if I could share my story and if anyone in the world heard me and identified with what I went through and could come out of it or understand, if I could make a difference to at least one life, I felt at that point all of going public, speaking about it would be justified. I also felt like the narrative around mental health in India needed to change. And I can do that today, the very reason why we’re sitting here today. Because I felt like when I hadn’t, and like I said, I was also working at that point, I was like, “Why can I not tell someone when someone asks me how am I doing?” Like the film that you just saw before we came in is… I think what got to me was when people were asking me, “How are you doing?” And one day I thought, “Are they really asking me how I’m doing? Do they actually have the time to listen if I said I’m not feeling okay? Will they actually give me that moment and understand what I’m going through or…
Barkha Dutt: Is it just perfunctory?
Deepika Padukone: Is it just superficial? When we ask people, “How are you doing?” Is it just superficial? Is it just formality because that’s the way we’ve been brought up? Like just ask and, “Yeah, I’m fine. Oh, great. Everything’s great.” Is everything really okay? And I wasn’t okay. So I think that’s what really got to me because I wasn’t okay. And it reached a stage where I was like, “Why can’t I just tell people that I’m not okay?” It was just that. And that’s when I reached out and that’s when I felt like I needed to talk about it. I felt like, because I felt bottled, I felt caged, I felt like I needed to fly or swim or just not be boxed and to feel free and I feel so free today.
Barkha Dutt: It is… you underplay, I think the courage that you have shown. You have shown extraordinary courage. I’ve said that to you a million times, I will say it a million times more. Why the foundation?
Deepika Padukone: Because I felt like just talking about it, I want to help people. I want them to understand what they are going through. We want to create awareness. We want to tell people that it’s okay to feel the way you do if you’re feeling a certain way. It’s absolutely all right. So to create the awareness, to reduce the stigma, which is going to take us many, many years. Having said that, I think in just the last two years, I feel like the conversation has really…
Barkha Dutt: Shifted.
Deepika Padukone: Shifted. Is it going to happen soon? Maybe not. But are we moving in the right direction? Most definitely. So to create the awareness, to reduce the stigma, to go into schools and colleges and educate teachers, educate students, educate parents that there is something like this that exists. It’s there, it’s happening, it’s happening all around us and do something about it before it’s too late. Suicide depression is the next big epidemic to hit the world, if it isn’t already. And reach out to corporates, reach out to the corporate world, tell them that it’s so important in your workplace to identify what you’re going through because the pressures are so high, to identify the people that you work with, to help them if you see sort of any symptoms. I think basically just to create the awareness and hopefully one day, we also want to be the happiest country in the world. We don’t want to be the most depressed. We don’t want to be the country with the highest suicide rate in the world.
Barkha Dutt: Look at your own life. If you had gone to a film producer and said, “I can’t do this film right now because I’m depressed,” what do you think the response would have been?
Deepika Padukone: Maybe there are people who haven’t offered me films because they think I’m depressed and I can’t act. I don’t know. You think that’s happened? Maybe. I don’t know.
Barkha Dutt: And did that make you ever regret going public?
Deepika Padukone: I’m in a good space because I can choose the movies…
Barkha Dutt: No, I know. I want to do.
Deepika Padukone: But I don’t think everyone has that luxury of choosing where they want to work, when they want to work. So it’s important for the organizations to understand that we need to treat this the same way as anything else. I think it’s equally important to have frequent sessions in your corporate offices about the importance of mental health. I think it’s important to have a tie up with a counselor or maybe have an in-house counselor or, yeah, maybe not a psychiatrist, it’s important to have an in-house counselor. When your staff is burnt out, they need to talk, they wanna speak to someone, somebody’s there, or at least make them aware that they should. And I feel today it’s important to just seek help of a counselor anyway, because our lives are so fast-paced with technology, with so much going on in the world, I don’t think there’s any harm in just seeing a counselor anyway, because…
Barkha Dutt: Did you continue to see a counselor even after you got better?
Deepika Padukone: Yeah, on and off, on and off.
Barkha Dutt: Whatever you needed to.
Deepika Padukone: I know a lot of my friends who’ve never experienced anxiety or depression, but it’s very important for them to see a counselor, to see their counselor every now and then. A lot of people do. And we need to normalize that as well. A lot of people say, “I have a meeting.” You lie about it. I’m in the middle of something, I’ll call you back. Or just lie and say, “I went to a general practitioner.” We need to normalize it. It has to be as normal as anything else.
Barkha Dutt: I think it is fair to say that Deepika’s public accounting or chronicling of her own story is not just brave, it has a purpose to it. Let’s just say that the foundation, the telling of the story is a purpose that the next time somebody says to you that they are depressed, please treat them with the respect that that sentiment, that that ailment, it is an ailment and it is treatable to some degree, preventable to some degree like any other physical ailment and that would perhaps be the biggest service we can do to people like Deepika and Dr. Duraiswamy, who work in this area. Let’s have a round of applause for our guests today. Thank you very much.
