Actor Sidhartha Mallya, who was born into one of India’s most prominent business families, is releasing his memoir where he talks about his struggles with mental health.
Sidhartha, who chose acting as his career, is the son of Vijay Mallya, the Indian business who is in the midst of an extradition struggle to be tried for his financial crimes in India.
In his memoir, Sidhartha writes about growing up in a home that many would consider a blessed life but appearances can often be deceiving.
In his memoir ‘If I Am Being Honest’, published by Westland Publications, he opens up about struggling with depression, living with OCD, the effects of his parents’ divorce, why he quit drinking and also what helped him face and overcome his challenges.
In 2016, the young actor battled with depression. Something that came as a bit of a surprise to him, given that he seemingly had the world at his feet — he was young, had just graduated from a prestigious drama school and had upcoming film projects. However, despite all the opportunities that awaited him, Sidhartha felt unhappy and constantly low. That was when he realised that something was not right and sought professional help.
Thus began the journey to understand his current mental state as well as an exploration of the other mental issues he has suffered throughout his life.
“After seeing the success that my ‘conSIDer This’ video series had, I felt I had to continue doing whatever I could to shine a light on mental health, and the best way to do that would be to continue talking about my own experiences in an open and honest manner to show that it is OK to talk about our issues,” Sidhartha said.
“My book is really about helping people see that it’s OK to talk about our issues openly and embrace our truth,” he added.
After a short career in the business world, Sidhartha made the switch to acting. He trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, graduating with a Master of Arts degree in acting. He made his feature film debut in the Netflix original ‘Brahman Naman’, which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The book will be released on October 21.
