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In a world of content where many put up their best selves for an audience, Tanmay Bhat’s readiness to bear his worst has always made him stand out.
The All India Bakchod (AIB) founding joke-maker. For a while, the single most popular comedy content platform in India. The heart of the Indian internet. And then, through a peculiar mix of professional tabloid shame, personal grief, and a significant mental health breakdown, he disappeared pretty much off the grid.
So when he sat down with Nikhil Kamath for an episode of WTF is, the ensuing episode remains one of the most open conversations on Mental Health-as well as one of the most critical, because of how seldom any person of public stature is willing to be candid.
The Beginning – Building AIB and What It Cost
Thepodcastbegins with Tanmay reminiscing the AIB years – the remarkable creativity at building something out of a world- barely-there; the thrill of making content that truly resonated with a generation of young Indians, and the burnout from maintaining that frenetic rhythm.
He discusses how the incremental effect of trying to keep up with the massive pressure to create content (to continually produce, be funny, be relevant, comment on everything in the zeitgeist) adds up over time in cumulative ways that are challenging to detect until the harm is apparent.
He also reflects on the #MeToo firestorm that hit AIB in 2018 and his part in that – not defensively at all, but with a gravitas about accountability and on what it taught him about the responsibility that comes with platform and influence.
Depression – What It Actually Feels Like
The most compelling and discussed part of the podcast is Tanmay’s story of depression, though what makes it such a valuable addition is how specific and honest he is about exactly what it was like.
He does not define depression as feeling sad. Instead, he defines it as feeling a kind of empty-ness, because suddenly everything that makes life worth living is completely absent. Everything that used to bring you joy is dead. The future is meaningless. The inspiration to live just isn’t there.
He discusses how challenging asking for help was-hard to do not because he didn’t know he needed the help but because by asking it felt like a recognition of failure, which his personality as the funny, successful, capable person rebelled against.
He discusses the therapy, the drugs and the lifestyle changes that ultimately led him back and how in the course of this process he gained an understanding of himself that surpassed the scope of recovery.
For so many viewers (and by research, it seems this is the vast majority of any given audience), this moment on the podcast is hugely validating. This is someone familiar to them who has faced the same challenges and succeeded.
The Loss That Changed Everything
He also touches on the passing of his father which reportedly took place amid the midst of other unfortunate circumstances and infused while he himself was struggling with mental illness.
He discusses heartbreak with precisely the same sincerity as depression- not a tidy story of being lost and coming back, but a soggy, indefinite ordeal that never really terminates, just is altered in consistency:
He is also self-reflective on what losing his father and how that has taught him about what is ultimately important, about things he wished he’d said and time he wished he’d used in a different manner and how that loss of someone forever redefines what can be worth stressing over.
The weight in this part of the podcast feels different from the weight of the rest of the conversation. It isn’t about tips and tricks to maintain mental health. It isn’t about getting back to work professionally. It is just about being human.
Rebuilding – Coming Back on His Own Terms
The most forward reaching portion of the podcast discusses how Tanmay rebuilt his relationship to content after his hiatus.
He reflects on how his motivations have changed from years ago while he was with the AIB. During that time, he was primarily externally motivated, concerned with image, viewer engagement, and cultural relevance. He states that now he makes content because it’s actually fun and he’s much less willing and able to accept certain opportunities that would require him to “compromise my health” or “do that thing I know I don’t want to do.”
Without relying on the established infrastructure, he has managed to assemble a large group of followers with his own distinctive style, a style that is introspective and more intimate than anything he produced during the AIB days. And the audience has followed – not because he is trying to stay relevant – but because his work is compelling.
He also discusses the paradox he has discovered: that caring less about the image hasn’t had a negative impact on his performance. In fact, the honesty and honesty from failure has proved more compelling for audiences than the blitzkrieg-like engagement with virality seen through his first phase.
The Reality of Life as a Content Creator
Tanmay is candid about the unique mental health issues content creators face in the age of social media – issues that most outsiders struggle to grasp.
He discusses one of the weird effects of having the public constantly giving you feedback on what they think of the things you do: it literally rewires your brain to your own sense of self worth. The simple fact of thousands of people telling you everyday how much they enjoy or don’t like your work, keeps you from having your own internal compass telling you if your work is “ok”. The external judgments “either [swells] your head or [kills] you” and neither one is very balanced.
I’m not sure he is just talking about the loneliness this public visibility creates – the fact that having a large audience doesn’t necessarily mean relationships and actually makes relationships more difficult when you surround yourself with people who respond to the illusion of you you project rather than real you.
Why This Podcast Was So Important
The Tanmay Bhat episode on WTF hit with a strange resonance because it spoke genuinely to experiences many of us are having but rarely hear spoken plainly.
Discussions about mental health have generally been few and far in between, quite sterilised or at best, concerned with notions centuries removed from lived experience. Tanmay’s story had none of those characteristics. It was specific, truthful and told from a position of lived experience- by someone who has experienced it and emerged from the depths with a truthful comprehension of the events.
But Indian media has not always created room for such honesty. And this episode proved that when they do create room for it, the audience responds marvelously.
About Tanmay Bhat
Tanmay Bhat is an Indian comedian, content creator and one of the co founders of AIB (All India Bakchod) which was one of India’s most popular comedy platforms at it’s most popular. He has openly discussed his experience with grief and depression and has established his career on his own terms after a long period of hardship.
At the moment he is producing content alone and has a substantial dedicated fanbase on YouTube and other places;
Tanmay Bhat Social Media Accounts:
- Tanmay Bhat YouTube Channel
- Tanmay Bhat Instagram Account
- Tanmay Bhat Facebook Page
- Tanmay Bhat Twitter/X Account
- Tanmay Bhat LinkedIn Account
- Tanmay Bhat Snapchat Account
Why You Should Watch This Podcast
To anyone who has ever known depression, anxiety, grief, and the particular pressures of public life-and for everyone who wishes to understand-this episode is for you. This episode is also-quite frankly-one of the most transparent conversations I have ever had about the process of creating a career, destroying a career, and creating a new one.
Watch it patiently. It is not a knee-jerk hit of motivation. It’s the kind of conversation that keeps lingering.
Conclusion
The episode of WTF is, with Tanmay Bhat, is in many way the most human conversation that I have heard on Nikhil Kamath. It isn’t something about trying to create a company, or chase money or talk about India’s geopolitics and how it intersects with the world. It is just one individual’s real story about falling to the bottom of life, and making your way back up.
That, simplicity, is what makes it so powerful. And that is why it’s still being passed around and recommended to others long after the more sensational accounts have been left behind.
1. Who is Tanmay Bhat?
Tanmay Bhat is an Indian comedian/creator. He was one of the founders of one of the biggest comedy portals in India, called the AIB. Tanmay Bhat, has opened up that he has suffered from depression and he recovered from it successfully.
2. Asymptomatic. What does it talk about?
He discusses his work in AIB, his battle with depression and loss of his father, the rebuilding of his career and his thoughts on the particular mental health struggles to do with being a content creator.
3. What’s so great about this episode?
Tanmay talking about mental health with an honesty and specificity that is uncommon in Indian public life makes the conversation truly meaningful for the many people who would have gone through something similar.
Watch Full Podcast Here:
