Kapil Sharma's Twitter meltdown may be a desperate cry for medical help the comedian needs urgently

In a tweetstorm on Friday, comedian Kapil Sharma posted multiple abusive tweets . He started out tweeting in defense of Salman Khan but it quickly snowballed into a no-holds-barred, expletive-filled tirade against the media, especially one journalist. Those tweets were quickly deleted and Kapil said his account had been hacked. [caption id=“attachment_4352493” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Kapil Sharma/Image from Twitter.[/caption] Later that night, in another since-deleted tweet, he admitted to writing the extremely abusive tweets earlier. “Maine jo bhi likha apne dil se likha tha... It was my team who deleted the tweets … But main is k***e bikaayu reporter se darne wala nahi hu… he can write anything for anybody just for a few bucks. Shameless, (Whatever I wrote, was written from the heart. It was my team who deleted the tweets. But I will not be scared by this sellout reporter. He can write anything for anybody just for a few bucks. Shameless),” he tweeted. This was not all. Kapil also filed a police complaint against his ex-manager and rumoured ex-girfriend Preeti Simoes, her sister Neeti Simoes and journalist Vicky Lalwani. He alleged that Vicky tried to extort Rs 25 lakhs from him. Kapil even called up Vicky to hurl abuses and threaten him. This not the first time that Kapil has had a meltdown in public. A year ago, a drunken Kapil belittled Sunil Grover and also physically assaulted him on a flight from Australia to Mumbai. Apparently, he walked up to Sunil, who played Dr Mashoor Gulati on his show, and started abusing and then slapped him. Sunil quit the show immediately after they returned to Mumbai. After a decade of being the King of Comedy on the small screen, Kapil’s career has been on a downward spiral and his erratic behavior has not gone unnoticed. It all started in January 2016 when Colors TV pulled the plug on Comedy Nights with Kapil. Within months, he moved lock, stock and barrel to Sony TV. The Kapil Sharma Show had the same format, cast and at times, even jokes as its predecessor. The show opened to record viewership but the narrative soon shifted. Until now, there had only been rumours of high-handedness, alcoholism, mental health issues and plagiarism but they soon became headlines. In August last year, Sony TV announced that The Kapil Sharma Show was being taken off air due to low TRPs and the host’s deteriorating health. His return to the small screen with Family Time With Kapil Sharma has not clicked with viewers. Just in its third week, four of the six shooting schedules of the show are said to have been cancelled. Earlier this week, rumours started that Sony TV is ready to pull the plug on the show soon. This could have possibly been the reason for Kapil’s meltdown. Last year, Kapil admitted to having mental health issues and an alcohol problem. In an interview to me, during the promotions of his film Firangi, he admitted to hitting the bottle each time he found it difficult to negotiate all the controversies swirling around him. “Alcohol was the crutch I used to cope with all the negativity around me. I am not someone who shares or talks about my feelings a lot. There was so much going around me that even if I did want to talk…I wouldn’t have known where to start. So I started drinking,” he said. In an attempt to get his life back in order, Kapil spent a fortnight at a holistic health center in Bangaluru to “repair his mind and body”. Living in the limelight is not easy. While success brings money and fame, show business is also insanely competitive and high-pressured. Add to this the long hours, the anxiety of performance and alcohol, and you have a lethal cocktail. The entertainment industry in the West has seen performers like Lindsay Lohan, Amy Winehouse and Charlie Sheen rise to the top only to melt down. Tinsel town, though, loves a good comeback story. Celebrities like Britney Spears, Robert Downey Jr and Winona Ryder have been successful in defeating their inner demons and have staged inspiring comebacks. It is not too late for Kapil to ask for the medical help that he clearly needs.