Hema
Sardesai reminds you of all the energetic, beautiful, and full of life songs
that she has given in her Bollywood journey. The singer, who shot to fame in
the 1990s with songs like “Awara Bhavare”, “Ishq Sona Hai” and “Badal Pe Pao
Hai” from movies like Sapnay, Biwi No. 1, and “Chak De” had to quit Bollywood
because she refused to compromise on her values and principles. 

“My
song ‘Badal Pe Paon Hai’ from ‘Chakde India’ had gained super popularity. Even
today it is the only female solo super hit in the ‘Top Five Most Inspirational
Songs’. I was being invited to sing more songs at that time, but at one such
recording session for a top music director, I was told that the new young girl
singers who had sprung up from the singer reality TV shows were indulging in
lowest virtueless deeds succumbing to what is today called the #metoo movement
to compete with me,” she told Opoyi.  

“I
was the first celebrity who stood against this movement and also publicly
for the ‘Girl Child’ since 1998. I have always been one of the, or the rarest
ever Bollywood singer who refused to compromise my values and principles
for fame, power, or monies. So for me, it was heartbreaking to see these young
girls doing sordid things that would ruin their minds, to compete with
me. That’s when I decided to quit Bollywood as fame or money could never
rule me, and the spiritual side of me helped me to easily quit,” added the
singer. 

Hema’s
‘Awara Bhavaren’ was continuously on the No.1 position for more a
record-breaking 14 weeks on the charts. Also, she is the only Indian singer to
win the Grand Prix at the International Pop Song Festival in Germany along with
singing at the International UNICEF Concert in Europe. 

In
2013, she wrote and sang three Konkani songs for the English film The Coffin
Maker, starring Naseeruddin Shah. In 2017, she announced her debut in America,
with her song “Power of Love”, working with Mishal Raheja and Grammy Award winners Tony Mercedes and Jared Lee Gosselin on the project. 

The
singer, who later suffered depression, says that the film industry had nothing
to do with it.

“My
fame was the outside part of my life. I never let it affect my family life or
my journey with my friends. And what anyone may have a negative thought or said
to me never mattered to me. And being in the film world or not had nothing to
do with my depression, so it also did not affect my healing in any way,” she
said.

Hema said that since childhood, she has always been confused in life “whether it’s a
great thing to be living in this world, which is full of greed, envy,
insecurity, selfishness, hatred, and many religious and other ignorances, etc.”

“So
it became an almost easily natural thing for me to think about suicide once in
a while even being a highly happy energetic soul like me. Many a time I wake up
in the morning wondering how and why the Divine landed me of all in this world.
But we humans must learn we are here for not ourselves, but for a higher
purpose, with a ‘Seva’ mindset that says ‘what can I do for you’, with the
Divine presiding. I am trying to adhere to this, and to understand and learn
this deeply,” she said.

 Talking
about how it all started, Hema says that matter became worse after her father
passed away. 

“My
father was my pillar of strength, my idol and I could see my so-termed ‘super
energy’ depleting significantly after he passed away. Matters went worse when I
was given a wrong dosage period of medication by a known doctor, and I lost my
energy to a deep level,” etc.

“I
went to a psychiatrist who also prescribed an overdosage of anti-depressants
for me. and very soon I could feel I was losing all my energy and every time I
stopped the medication, I was feeling suicidal, as the tremors in my body
caused due to the antidepressant side effects, were bringing a lot of
discomfort to me. I knew I had to conquer this, but needed to connect deeply
with the Divine,” she said and added that she surrendered herself to the
spiritual light shown by HH Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankarji and gained
strength. 

Many
Bollywood stars have come out in open and talked about their depression phase
but Hema opted for silence to fight her battle. Why so?

 “Yes,
many talk about their depressions, but most of these are those who are
depressed because they have done or are still compromising their values and
principles for fame and money. So to cover that uneasiness, they hit drugs and
alcohol etc. They then suffer withdrawal symptoms etc and that’s where they
confess to being depressed,” she said and added that “these are the ones who do
need rehabs”

“…but
most of all there is an absence of spirituality which is very much needed. One
has to surrender to the Divine, which is tough to do for a constantly logic
seeking mind. When I surrendered, then the Divine took over to heal me. Then
there was no longer a battle to fight,” she said.