Sushant Singh Rajput: With disarming smile, he was a star in his own right
Nonika Singh
Who could have imagined behind the charming and good looking face, the mind was turbulent enough to call it quits.
The suicide of young, handsome actor Sushant Singh Rajput leaves behind a trail of gnawing queries and as many beautiful celluloid memories. The 34-year-old actor who melted hearts with his disarming smile was certainly a star in his own right. Only one who would and should have shone much more, only if he had not chosen death over life.
Call it ironies of life or adismal reality, real does not always imitate reel. His last theatrical release Nitesh Tiwari’s ‘Chhichhore’ tackled the very subject of suicide as it drove home the point; it’s okay to fail in life. Of course, Sushant was a fairly successful actor who won critics and fans alike. A popular face of television serial ‘Pavitra Rishta’, he made the switch to 70mm screen with much acclaimed Abhishek Kapoor’s ‘Kai Po Che’ in 2013.
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Years later, Abhishek Kapoor’s ‘Kedarnath’ may not have emerged as critics’ favourite but created magic on the box-office. Besides, who could find fault with Sushant’s portrayal of a do-gooder Muslim porter who symbolises human goodness?
His filmography may not have been too long but included significant films like Abhishek Chaubey’s ‘Sonchiriya’. The leading man of several films such as ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’, ‘Raabta’, he slipped into his roles with an artless naturalness.
Incredibly earnest onscreen and almost universally liked, one of the most memorable parts he played was as and in ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’. The biopic on the former cricket captain Dhoni saw him pushing the ball straight out of the park, earning him many plaudits especially for mastering Dhoni’s trademark helicopter shot. The film set the cash registers ringing. Also seen in a significant cameo in Aamir Khan’s ‘PK’ where he romanced Anushka Sharma, clearly nothing seemed amiss in his life. At least on the surface but as they say it’s not about what is on the outside but what is inside.
Now as reports that he was suffering from clinical depression are trickling in, one can perhaps read many meanings in his last Instagram post where he spoke of ‘fleeting life’ and his late mother. In yet another interview, he spoke of lack of excitement and his poems dedicated to his mother too reflect a deep sadness.
His endgame, however, would continue to both shock and haunt. For someonewho overcame struggles, he once confessed to being a background dancer at IIFA functions, what made him give up so young will not find easy answers. “Life is fragile”, as cricketer Virender Sehwag has tweeted or pressures of stardom which some may be speculating, what we know for sure is the ache and the pain of his fans and Bollywood is for real. “A star falls from the sky and into your hands. Then it seeps through your veins and swims inside your blood and becomes every part of you. And then you have to put it back into the sky. And it’s the most painful thing you’ll ever have to do and that you’ve ever done.”- C. JoyBell C.
