Throwback Thursday: Here's Why Ali Fazal Slipped Into Depression After Playing Joy Lobo In '3 Idiots'

Fazal’s role in ‘3 Idiots’ was short but impactful. His character dies by suicide after he succumbs to the pressure in an engineering college. But did you know that the actor actually went into depression after he played Joy Lobo? Yes, you read that right.

In an old interview with Peeping Moon, Fazal recalled how he slipped into depression after ‘3 Idiots.’ He said that he was overwhelmed with the response people gave to his role as many told him that they could relate and draw parallels with it. The actor said, “I slipped into depression when I started with ‘3 Idiots’. I played a small role in it. Do you know what happened? Suddenly they were doing some news pieces, not to sound morbid or anything but at that time, some college students had harmed themselves, and then I got a call from some news channel saying, ‘Sir, you’ve played this role, and this is exactly what has happened. How do you feel about it?’ and I was crushed at that point.”

The actor continued, “I was naive, I was in my second year of college. I went into depression.” He revealed that he received a lot of help from Hirani who helped him to navigate through this rocky patch.

After ‘3 Idiots’, Fazal was seen in movies like ‘Always Kabhi Kabhi’, ‘Fukrey’, and even ‘Furious 7.’ Since then, there has been no turning back for him.