MID-DAY (September 11, 2018)

Mahesh Bhatt says filmmaking is such a “high stress business” that it consumes people, often making them prone to substance abuse and mood swings.

Bhatt says the constant urge to get validation for one’s work could be terrifying. “It [films] is a high-stress business and that’s why, not many can do it. That’s why you have people prone to substance abuse and mood swings. You have a tendency to gravitate towards depression because you are dependent continuously,” Bhatt told reporters.

“When you show a trailer, you constantly wonder if there will be claps. It takes a lot of courage to be on the centre stage and hope that people will shower compliments on you,” he added.

The director was speaking at the trailer launch of The Dark Side Of Life: Mumbai City, with which he will make his acting debut. He also opened up about his daughter, Shaheen, who was diagnosed with clinical depression, and said she will chronicle her experience in a memoir to be released in October. “My daughter Shaheen discovered she’s suffering from clinical depression at 16. She also came to a point of considering suicide at the age of 12 or 13. This happened at home. Even in our industry, a girl gave away her life. She came to us for work once, but we couldn’t work together. I still remember seeing her body, the one who came here to work,” he said.

Dark Side Of Life: Mumbai City, directed by Tariq Khan, also stars Kay Kay Menon, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Avi Parsdasani and is scheduled to release on October 19.