Mumbai, Nov 24 (IANS): Tamil cinema star Sivakarthikeyan revealed that to escape from the depression and sadness after his father’s death during his college days, he got on to the stage, where the claps turned out to be his therapy.

Sivakarthikeyan during a conversation with actor-politician Khushbu Sundar at the ongoing International Film Festival of India in Goa talked about his journey.

The actor, who is currently basking in the success of his latest military drama “Amaran” has performed strongly at the box office, traced his beginnings as a mimicry artist during his engineering college days.

“My first stage was in my college when I was doing my engineering. My friends pushed me onto the stage and said, ‘Do whatever you feel like, audience should enjoy,'” Sivakarthikeyan recalled.

Following his father’s death during his college years, Sivakarthikeyan turned to entertainment as a form of therapy.

“I was depressed. I didn’t know what to do. To escape from the depression, from that sadness, I got onto the stage where claps and appreciation was the therapy,” he said.

The actor detailed his strategic entry into television in 2007, reports variety.com.

“Television host come for a full one hour because they say the show’s name, so they cannot edit that,” he explained, describing it as his calculated move to gain more screen time.

Speaking about his recent portrayal of Major Mukund Varadarajan in “Amaran,” Sivakarthikeyan credited the film’s success to the real-life soldier’s selflessness.

Talking about Varadarajan, he said: “He was from Chennai, from this tip of India. He went there, to Kashmir to save all the people there. Didn’t even think about his family that time, his daughter was three and half years old and he didn’t even think about it.”

“He saved his own team, a true leader. So this film’s success is because of his sacrifice. Sacrifice is the biggest, biggest, biggest heroism,” he said.

Sivakarthikeyan shared that he had contemplated quitting the industry, but was encouraged to continue by his wife Aarthi to continue.

However, he has maintained a strict distance from social media.

“Last two years, I’m using social media very less. If you want to use, you use internet. This is my kind advice, but don’t use much of social media, especially Twitter. Maybe, I think Elon Musk might block my account, that will be the first success I think for me.”

The actor his mother’s guidance despite her limited formal education for his journey.

“My mom did only eighth standard, but she knows life better than me,” he said.