Sacred Games and Hate Story 2 actor Surveen Chawla has opened up about a deeply personal and painful chapter of her teenage years, revealing how societal judgment and bullying over her early dating life pushed her into depression at the age of 15.In an interview with Hauterrfly, Surveen recalled how she was shamed for being in a relationship at a young age. “People would talk a lot about it. When my then-boyfriend broke up with me, I started dating his friend, so I was shamed even more. They called me all kinds of names like r**di, f***ing sl*t, and such things,” she shared. “I went into depression because of that.”‘I was in Class 9, very depressed and had migraines’The actor revealed that the emotional trauma she faced led to a year-long bout of depression and triggered migraine attacks. “I was just in Class 9. I was very depressed for about a year, and due to that I started getting migraines. But these conversations around mental health never happened at that time,” she said.Recalling how she coped, Surveen said she sought help from a general physician. “I went to our family general physician and he gave me medications for migraine, that’s that. There was no coming out of it as such. There was only coming out of it with experience and understanding. We had to deal with sh*t and get out of it ourselves. That generation learnt it like that only.”‘My parents didn’t know about this depression’Surveen also noted that her parents were unaware of her depression during that phase. “My parents did not know about this depression and all at that time. It is only in these recent years that they have gotten exposed to these things and have these conversations,” she said.
She spoke about growing up in a conservative and patriarchal family, where discussions about feminism, sex education, and mental health were almost non-existent. Her experience, she added, is not uncommon for many growing up in similar households.Surveen is currently receiving acclaim for her role in Criminal Justice Season 4, where she stars alongside Pankaj Tripathi and Shweta Basu Prasad. The show has been garnering positive reviews, and Surveen’s performance has stood out for its nuance and emotional depth.
