Sandeep Nahar, who was seen in films like Kesari and MS Dhoni: An Untold Story alongside actors like Akshay Kumar and the late Sushant Singh Rajput on Monday, February 15 committed suicide at his Goregaon residence in Mumbai. According to police officials, the actor was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room, and was found by his wife – Kanchan and her friends. Nahar was rushed to SVR Hospital, where he was declared dead upon arrival. According to Mumbai Police, the late actor posted a Facebook video around three hours prior to hanging himself, in which he made some startling revelations.
In a now deleted Facebook video posted by Sandeep Nahar, the actor was seen claiming that he would have committed suicide a long time ago, but was hesitant due to the hope that normalcy would return to his personal and professional life. Calling his life, a hell-like experience, Nahar detailed in the nine-minute video how he was being harassed both personally and professionally. The actor had posted a “suicide note” on Facebook, along with a nine-minute video.
In the video in Hindi, the actor can be heard saying that he was “frustrated” with constant fights with his wife and was being harassed and blackmailed by her and also by his mother-in-law. “I would’ve died by suicide a long time ago but I chose to give myself the time and hope that things would get better, but they didn’t. I now have nowhere to go. I don’t know what awaits me after I take this step, but I’ve been through hell in this life,” Nahar was heard saying.
According to the late actor, constant harassment and blackmailing by his wife and her mother over instances of the past had made life miserable for him. He alleged that Kanchan would fight with him on a daily basis. However, in his suicide note/video, the actor said, “I have only one request, after I am gone, please don’t say anything to Kanchan (his wife) but do get her treated.”
About his professional life, Nahar said that everyone in Bollywood was leading a fake life, and that there is a need for people to be kind and emotive in the industry. He revealed that he was replaced from projects after everything was finalised and agreements were signed. “The industry eats a lot of your time. People here are emotion-less and are living a fake life,” he said in the note.
Sandeep Nahar’s suicide comes as the latest in an industry plagued with nepotism, drugs, cosmeticism and filth. If professional woes weren’t already enough, according to his own assertions, the man was being harassed in his personal space as well. An abetment to suicide case has been registered by the police against Nahar’s wife Kanchan and her mother.
The suicide of Sandeep Nahar underlines the immediate need for men’s rights in India, and a sympathetic society which understands that men too can be victims of harassment and mental turmoil inflicted upon them by professional, and even romantic partners. The suicide of Sandeep Nahar reflects just how unjust and unsympathetic Indian society has become. In recent times, men’s issues – whether they be of mental health, professional harassment or personal bullying have become taboos. Only after a man, dejected by life and harassed by his partners takes extreme steps like those of Nahar, does society begin momentarily thinking about the causes of him killing himself.
Men too can be harassed, abused and victims of psychological torture. It is about time that men-friendly laws too are framed, which will help half of India’s population to redress their grievances in an appropriate manner. If suicide is the only option men are left with, there is something fundamentally wrong with our society and laws.
