Deepika Padukone’s Irritation At Wedding Questions Is Justified

Having battled depression herself, Deepika Padukone’s work to create awareness about depression is something we all know of. Not only does Padukone run Live Love Laugh Foundation, she also takes out time to speak on mental health at various events. So at a recent event, Padukone’s irritation at being quizzed about her wedding, when she was out to talk about mental health is so understandable.

However, instead of discussing mental health issues, a journalist at the event quizzed her about the speculations surrounding her wedding to actor Ranveer Singh. Naturally, Padukone snapped and refused to answer the question calling it “an extremely insensitive question to ask at an event like this.”

There were other important topics to discuss with Padukone than her impending nuptial.

Is it fair to reduce a conversation with Padukone or any female actor to wedding and matrimony all the time? We are a country obsessed with weddings and the whole shebang. Thus celeb weddings send journalists and gossip mongers in our country in overdrive. They will chase the wedding party to Italy or the moon for that matter. This is because they know every photograph about a celebrity wedding is going to break the internet.

SOME TAKEAWAYS

• Deepika Padukone recently called a journalist's question on her wedding "insensitive" at an event, as she was there to talk about mental health.
• All issues in this country seem dwarfed when it comes to celebrity weddings. 
• There were so many questions the journalist could have asked Padukone, but the person chose to reduce an important topic like mental health below celebrity gossip.

But there is a time and a place for everything. Besides, there are numerous important conversations which are essential to society today, apart from a celeb wedding. Padukone was attending this event to talk about mental health. Having suffered from depression, it must matter so much to her to create awareness about it among the common population, and why not.

With increasing cases of depression and anxiety among Indians, putting the focus on the importance of mental health is becoming increasingly important.

It is commendable of Padukone to use her fan base and popularity to generate a conversation on this topic. Alas, not many care about mental health or issues which celebrities endorse. Especially when it comes to female actors, all everyone cares about is either their affairs or their weddings. On one hand, we complain that film actors do not use their popularity for social good. We accuse female actors of not raising their voice enough.

But when they do, how do people respond? They steer the conversation from a relevant territory to the utterly useless one. It is indeed insensitive to chase gossip instead of such an important issue, as it reduces the cause of mental well being below celebrity gossip. Hopefully, Padukone’s reprimand will make good sense prevail. Not every time an actor opens her mouth, must she be quizzed about her affair or impending wedding.

Picture By: NDTV

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 Yamini Pustake Bhalerao is a writer with the SheThePeople team, in the Opinions section.  The views expressed are the author’s own