Shah Rukh Khan And His Bout With Depression
Very few people are aware of the fact that the “King Khan” underwent a phase of depression after his shoulder surgery, the reason being pain and pressure to remain active and fit (Meet These Famous People Who Overcame Depression, 2014). [pullquote]Life begins when we decide it’s going to begin for us “, (Shah Rukh Khan).[/pullquote]
What His Life Says About Him
Infinitesimal, everyday failures affects us all. Failure wasn’t just his companion during or before his stardom, it is still a substantial part of his life. SRK considers Kolkata Knight Riders and Ra-One to be examples of failure and he proudly accepts them, because according to him failure teaches him a lot. (Gangwani, 2012) A boy from a middle class family whose parents did not have enough money to take him to the movies has become “King Khan”. Shah Rukh khan, who has seen endless struggles in his life – he has slept on streets, struggled to support himself and his sister at a very young age. He even lost his parents very early which led to his sister seeking mental health support. Amidst all the chaos and challenges, he kept pushing himself, and today he stands tall as the ‘Badshah of Bollywood’. Certainly those years weren’t easy for him. Success doesn’t come easy, what made him a star was his acceptance of failure and the urge to improve. (Manohar, 2012)
His Early Days And Lessons
He not only saw failure but poverty too, especially after his parents’ demise. He vocally admits that he took on less creative work to overcome poverty. Some of the films which he accepted were rejected by big stars, but he took them on to avoid unemployment. Shah Rukh strongly believes that failure is a part of life, he believes that the true road to success is not just the desire for success but fear of failure and that if you don’t enjoy and be scared of your failure you will never succeed.
According to him, one needs to pass through some stages of failure in order to succeed. We might whimper about a successful superstar and his genuine tussle with failure. We believe that only a person who has been through adversity has all the rights to voice it out.
He believes it’s not the absence of failure that makes one successful, but it’s one response to it, (AIMA speech, 2014).
Which is actually so real for e.g. If we keep on thinking that nothing can be done, or ask why did it happen to me? Then surely we are falling into the trap of failure, while on the other hand if we learn from our failure, and accept it as a part of life and move on, we become strong individuals. We chase success and we want to live successful lives.
Here is another take on success from SRK: “Success is not a good teacher, failure makes you humble”. Success makes us fly while failures remind us that “Dust thou art, to dust returnest” (Psalm of Life, 1893).
What Can We Take From This?
Some stories just amaze us, and his story of struggle and then beating depression is definitely an inspired one. Failure, struggles, depression are just phases of life and it’s all about your attitude towards them and this belief has kept him going. Failure is a great teacher if you do not fail you will never learn and if you do not learn you will never grow.
He was successful in beating his depression through his skills i.e. acting in movies and working on what he likes. To add to this, he has a supporting family behind him. What also keeps him going is his self-motivation and his acceptance towards failure, because he truly believes -“Success and failure are both part of life. Both are not permanent”. While he believes in failure, on the other hand, he deeply has faith in hard work as he once stated , “Every morning I wake up and think of the same thing that is the first shot of my life so I better make it stick”.
There is a beautiful quote of his, “You must respect your seniors, but never get intimidated by them. Winning should be a habit, not an option. The four Hs are important when you play to win — HONESTY, HUMOR, HARD WORK and a bit of HARAAMIPAN”.
It Is Imperative To Learn And Seek Help
In the battle of achieving something we often fall in the pit of jealousy and envy and forget experienced people can help us to climb the ladder, while in these lines he beautifully describes to be ourselves, and not to attempt to be angels all the time. To make sure we are honest, hardworking and enjoying life. “Life of great men all reminds us, We can make our lives sublime, And departing, leave behind us footprints on the sand of time” (Psalm of Life, 1893). Shah Rukh Khan is also a common-or-garden being like you and I. He is the embodiment of constantly embracing a spirited life.
For All Of Us
If someone from such an ordinary family can make a difference just by accepting his flaws and failures and taking them as targets to improve, then definitely we all can do it, all we need is to trust and accept ourselves.
Reference
AIMA speech. (2014). Retrieved from All India Management Associaton :https://www.aima.in/media-centre/publications/Shahrukh-Khan-speech-at-AIMA-NMC.html Gangwani, R. (2012, December). I cried for hours-Srk. Retrieved from Filmfare.com: http://www.filmfare.com/interviews/i-cried-for-hours-srk-1884.html Manohar, C. (2012, November). Shah Rukh Khan’s emotional heartfelt talk at thinkfest. Retrieved from Bollyspice: http://bollyspice.com/51261/shah-rukh-khan-i-act-to-avoid-depression Psalm of Life. (1893). In H. W. Longfellow, Poetical works of Longfellow.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
