Internet's biggest stars come together on World Mental Health Day

Shriya Pilgaonkar, Barkha Singh, Gagan Arora, Ritwick Bhowmick, SlowCheeta, Viraj Sheth and Sulagna Chatterjee team up for a Yuvaa spoken word poem aimed at parents for World Mental Health Day.

Actors Shriya Pilgaonkar, Barkha Singh, Gagan Arora, Ritwick Bhowmick, rapper SlowCheeta, entrepreneur Viraj Sheth and writer Sulagna Chatterjee have joined hands with socially conscious youth media company, Yuvaa, in collaboration with Instagram, for a spoken word poem on World Mental Health Day, that addresses the mental health of parents, through the eyes of their children. The poem, Dear Parents, Talk To Us, is a heartwarming and heartfelt plea from young people to help parents recognize that they go through mental health issues and pressures too - and that they can, and should, try to share with their children and have these important conversations at home.

The poem, called #SunoSamjhoSaathDo, is part of a campaign that Yuvaa is doing with Instagram, with the support of mental health partner, Sangath, aimed at making mental health accessible to all, through conversations, sharing, and unlearning of social conditioning, starting at home with parents. This is keeping in line with WHO's theme for World Mental Health Day - 'Mental Health in an Unequal World'.

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Yuvaa, over the last two years, has engaged with thousands of young Indians, having visited over 150+ campuses across India, and found that the biggest reason why they are unable to speak up about their own mental health issues or experiences is because parents shut down any conversations around it at home. But they go through their own mental health struggles, and this poem tries to start this very important conversation at home, because if children listen first, perhaps their parents will listen next, and they won't be afraid to speak up about their mental health issues at home.

This poem is the third in a series of two viral spoken word poems that Yuvaa has produced on mental health, both in association with Instagram": Dear Children, Talk to Us (that starred Gajraj Rao, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sheeba Chadda, Kumud Mishra and more) that released in 2019, and Dear Parents, Listen to Us (that starred Prajakta Koli, Ahsaas Channa, Barkha Singh, Gagan Arora and more) that released in 2020.

Credits:

Writers: Garima Kunzru, Nikhil Taneja
Director: Garima Kunzru
Additional Writing: Sajal Kumar
DOP: Rohit Virdi
Editor: Nikita Saxena
Graphics: Srishti Choudhary

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