Frontend interview prep after a long break — what actually matters now?

I have ~7 years of experience as a UI / Frontend Developer, mostly with the same company. About 18 months ago, I quit due to issues with a new manager and took a break to reassess things. During this time, I didn’t do much hands-on coding.

Now I need to re-enter the job market, but I’m finding it harder than expected — both mentally and in terms of figuring out how recruiters view this gap in the current market.

I’ve gone through older threads here, but most seem pre-2023, so I wanted to ask based on recent experiences:

• How are 1–2 year career gaps currently viewed by recruiters in India?
• What explanations for the gap have actually worked in interviews?
• Has anyone faced issues during background verification purely due to a long break?
• Has anyone here successfully re-entered after a long gap — what helped you get unstuck?
• Also, has anyone explored showing non-dev / adjacent roles (PM, consultant, support, etc.) during a gap, and how did that work out long term?

Any advice on getting back into coding and interview prep after a long break would also really help.

Thanks in advance — mainly looking for real experiences and lessons learned.