Film maker Mahesh Bhatt, who celebrated his 70th birthday last Thursday, says the movie industry is such a “high-stress business” that it consumes people, often making them prone to substance abuse and mood swings.

The filmmaker says the constant urge to get validation for one’s work could be terrifying.

“It (films) is a high-stress business and that’s why not many can do it... You have a tendency to gravitate towards depression because you are dependent continuously,” Bhatt told reporters. “When you show a trailer, you constantly wonder if there’ll be claps. It takes a lot of courage to be on centre stage and hope that people will shower compliments on you. However big a film maker is, the day the film opens, everyone is scared.”

The director was speaking at the trailer launch of Dark side of Life: Mumbai City, in which he will be making his acting debut.

Bhatt also opened up about his daughter Shaheen who was diagnosed with clinical depression and said she will chronicle her experience in a memoir to be released in October. He said Shaheen discovered she’s suffering from clinical depression at 16.