Detroit U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar has produced and acted in a short film about his first wife's suicide.
The 15-minute film titiled "Dear Pra," is a dramatic retelling of the days before and after the death of Shamal Thanedar, a neurologist and mom of two who took her life in 1996 at age 37 when the family was living in St. Louis by overdosing on anti-depressant pills, Melissa Nann Burke of the Detroit News writes.
The film was screened Saturday at the DC South Asian Film Festival, which said this about the film:
Even as a family advances on the path to the American dream, landmines of mental health issues camouflaged by self-shame and social stigma threaten to tear them apart. Will love and soul-baring transparency give them the strength to rise beyond a devastating situation? A freshman Congressman’s heart wrenching tale shines an unflinching, yet caring light on an affliction that has upended the lives of millions of individuals and families in the US and around the world.
