At the age of 43, TV actor Kushal Punjabi committed suicide. This news came as a huge shock to everyone. Reports claimed that the actor was on anti-depressants and probably, it was his depression that pulled him to take such a drastic step.
Naturally, the entire industry is saddened. His good friend and actor Bakhtiyaar Irani recalled some of his experiences with Kushal and exclusively spoke to SpotboyE.com.
Said Bakhtiyaar, “It is not shocking, but it’s devastating. I'm angry since the time I have known about this. With the current scenario, and with the way the things are going, I totally know that Kushal is not the guy to commit suicide. Even if you go through his entire Instagram profile, he was so much into fitness. I know him since 2008-09. He was to do our show Zara Nachke Dikha, then we did Fun On The Run. Then I did Zorr Ka Jhattka with him, the NDTV Imagine show hosted by Shah Rukh Khan. We were there together for 2 and half months and we fought in the battle of Zorr Ka Jhatka.”
In the same vein, he added, “When people say it's a coward's act, I don't feel he's a coward. It takes a lot of guts to do something like this. I don't know much about his personal life. After he got married, I have obviously met his wife. But yeah, he was upset about the way things were going and it's just horrible.”
Furthermore, he says, “F**k the stardom and everything. You have a family, an entire life, you have a wife, a son. Live for them. Forget the wife and kid, itne saalon se maa baap ne paala hai, unke liye jee lo yaar. A person like him would never do something like this. Something must have really f**ked him up very badly.
In the Television world today, even if some people from the production house or people from our fraternity want to help, I would request everyone through my interview, that actors who are there and who have seen the limelight from 2000-2019 and are still in the profession should be given an equal opportunity.
But to save a couple of thousands, you do not take that actor, and he goes into major depression. How many more names in our film industry land up in old age homes without any money. Eventually, big stars help them recover. Only the wise survive if you're an actor. But the fact is sometimes work is difficult to come. Just imagine, I met Kushal 3 days back in a party, where he was all jovial and fun. But he wouldn't talk to anyone so pata kaise chalega.”
Recalling an incident, Bakhtiyaar says, “When we were in Argentina, he would speak about his girlfriends. Me, Akashdeep Saigal and Kushal were outside partying every night and we were enjoying life. I was married, these 2 weren't but I was dragged everywhere because of my sense of humour. So, he and I loved dancing, we loved fitness, we liked to go out. Everything matched. Besides one thing that he did has not gone down well with me.”
Image Source:- instagram/itsme_kushalpunjabi/bollywoodcouch
Image Source:- instagram/itsme_kushalpunjabi/bollywoodcouch