“Shreyas Talpade’s heart had stopped for about 10 minutes apparently, they revived him and did an angioplasty,” says his friend Bobby Deol

Regrettably, this writer had to convey the worrisome news of actor Shreyas Talpade’s heart attack and angioplasty to his close friend Bobby Deol. Bobby’s first reaction was, “Oh my God!”

A few minutes later, he sent a voice note saying, “I just spoke to his wife. She was really upset. His heart had stopped for about ten minutes, apparently. Now they’ve revived him and done an angioplasty. So just pray that he will be fine. Thank you, Subhash, for letting me know.”

Shreyas is one of the most versatile and underrated actors of Hindi and Marathi cinema.

In an earlier interview, Shreyas said to me, “My career has been adventurous. I come from a normal middleclass family with no film connections. I have auditioned to get my best roles. Luckily for me filmmakers like Subhash Ghai, Nagesh Kukunoor and Farah Khan had faith in me.”

He admitted that he should not have done some of the films that he did. “I also admit I didn’t do some things that I should have. I didn’t market myself well. I was averse to social media. But that’s the need of the hour. It took me some time to accept the marketing reality. I won’t make the same mistakes again. Maybe I will make new mistakes. All my mistakes are mine. I am happy with both the rights or wrongs in my life. John Lever says Duniya gol hai, and so is destiny. Hopefully I will have new challenges and new appreciation in future,” he said.

Shreyas loves the opportunities being provided on the digital domain. “OTT is definitely a blessing for an actor like me. For me, it’s is an extension of the experimental theatre I used to do. That experiment is happening manifold on OTT and there is trigger-audience for it. There are so many stories waiting to be told and performed. Now we have the opportunity. I don’t know whether I am underrated. I am just an actor trying to do my best. But I guess the OTT is like an IPL for us actors. We know there is an audience for what we do, no matter how unconventional,” he said.

Here’s wishing Shreyas a swift and complete recovery.