Vikram on his auto-immune disorder similar to Samantha

Vikram Bhatt is gearing up for the release of his next film, 'Tumko Meri Kasam'. The film stars Anupam Kher, Esha Deol and Adah Sharma. The film-maker known for his movies like 'Raaz', 'Awara Paagal Deewana' has recently opened up on his auto-immune disorder. He also spoke about going through depression, thus revealing that it was such a tabboo earlier, before perhaps Deepika Padukone came out on it.
Bhatt said during a chat with Pinkvilla, "I have always suffered from depression. The reason I did not want to have Shweta (his wife) in my life is because I was like ‘why you want to be with a depressed person?’ and she said that’s not your choice to make. I have an autoimmune condition, it called Axial spondyloarthritis. It is a kind of an arthritis where the bones begin to fuse. The result is a lot of pain."
He spoke about how one couldn't open up about depression earlier. “You were not supposed to talk about mental health. I think one of the first persons to talk about this was Deepika Padukone. Samantha Prabhu has a condition call Myositis which is a very close one to what I suffer from. I think it is very important for people to come out with their mental illnesses because it gives a lot of strength to youngsters, to people who are suffering from it and also keeping it quite," he said.
Vikram further lauded Samantha, Deepika to open up on these things, thus, actually making the youth feel normal about it. He said, "When big idols like Deepika Padukone, Samantha, and all of them come out and talk about it, people are energized, in a way encouraged to talk about their problems as well. That would stop so many teenage suicides, anxiety. I think the greatest illness in today’s youth is anxiety."
After revealing that she was undergoing depression, Deepika has launched an initiative, 'The

Live Love Laugh Foundation

' to support mental health awareness.