Popular actor Abbas, a heart-throb among Tamil cinema audiences during the 1990s, acted in more than 50 films but went off the radar in the last decade, while also featuring in Telugu and Kannada language ventures. Having shot to overnight fame in his debut Kadhal Desam (1996), the actor went on to star in Tamil films like V.I.P. (1997), Padayappa (1999), Hey Ram (2000), Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), Minnale (2001), Aanandham (2001), Pammal K. Sambandam (2002), and Guru En Aalu (2009), to name a notable few. Abbas recently sat down with National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, to talk about his film career and also open up about helping people who were suicidal.
Speaking about coming to the need of people who were suicidal and how he himself made an attempt when he was in Class 10, Abbas said, "During the Covid-19 pandemic, I was doing Zoom chats with my fans. I was very away from social media, but then I got onto it because I wanted to help a lot of fans. A lot of suicidal people were going through things and so I was helping them out. I used to be a teenage troubled kid. And, I wanted to end my life because I failed in Class 10. My girlfriend left me. So, all that will make a Class 10 boy say, 'My life is gone'. So, at that time, I wanted to kill myself. But, there was something that made me change and that was one motorcycle."
Abbas continued, "I was sitting near the highway and waiting for a truck to come so that I can jump on its path. But, there was a two-wheeler behind the truck when I got ready to jump. When I saw that two-wheeler behind the truck, it struck me that the person riding the bike didn't do anything wrong. I asked myself the question why should he get hurt since his vehicle is a small one compared to a truck, which will not sustain any damages if I collided with it? So, at my darkest, deepest and worst moment I was thinking about not me, but somebody else. That clicked. And, that made sense to me that if you want to grow in life, you help somebody else without expectations and that will be the food for your soul. So, I started my journey unknowingly from that time, not very effectively and impactful, but on a self-conscious level, I was aware of it. So, I often used to do my small bit, which would keep me on track."
Watch Abbas in conversation Baradwaj Rangan in the video below:
