Ali Fazal, who began his acting career with the super hit film 3 Idiots, in an interview with PeepingMoon said that he went into depression when he was shooting for the film. "I slipped into depression when I started with 3 Idiots. I played a small role in it," he told PeepingMoon. In the film, Ali Fazal played the role of an engineering student called Joy Lobo, who dies by suicide after the college dean refuses to extend the project's deadline for submission. Ali Fazal was in the second year of college back then. He told PeepingMoon, "Do you know what happened? Suddenly they were doing some news pieces, not to sound morbid or anything but at that time, some college students had harmed themselves, and then I got a call from some news channel saying, 'Sir, you've played this role and this is exactly what has happened. How do you feel about it?' and I was crushed at that point. I was naive. I was in my second year of college. "
Speaking of the impact that the incident had on his mental health, the actor said, "I went into depression and I told Raju sir (Rajkumar Hirani) and all these people and they said, 'please don't do this. Tell them to talk to the producer and don't feel like this'."
The film, directed by Rajkumar Hirani, is based on Chetan Bhagat's novel Five Point Someone. It featured Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi as the titular characters and also starred Boman Irani and Kareena Kapoor.
Ali Fazal is best known for starring in films such as Happy Bhag Jayegi, Victoria And Abdul, Bobby Jasoos and the Fukrey series on films, in which he co-starred with Richa Chadha. He was also seen in Netflix film House Arrest and the popular web-series Mirzapur.
He awaits the release of Netflix's web-series Ray, which will release on Friday. He will also be seen in Death On The Nile, an adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel of the same name. The film also features Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Dawn French, Rose Leslie, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright.
(If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist.) Helplines: 1) Vandrevala Foundation for Mental Health - 1860-2662-345 / 1800-2333-330 (24 hours) 2) TISS iCall - 022-25521111 (Monday-Saturday: 8 am to 10 pm)