An actor's suicide has opened up a can of worms for India's Bollywood

Sushant Singh Rajput, who died by suicide on June 14 at his Mumbai apartment, was not a typical Bollywood star. He was known to read books on Quantum Physics as his hobby and he ran the @intoxillectual book club on Instagram, which on occasion discussed works by the French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre. He counted black hole astrophysicists among his friends, and loved staring into the dark night sky through his telescope. The photograph that graced his social media profile, was of the famous Vincent van Gogh painting, The Starry Night. His biography read, ‘Photon in a double-slit’. 

In a rare move, the International Space University in France paid a tribute to the late actor on its site: “We are deeply saddened by the dramatic news on the death of well-known Indian actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Mr. Singh Rajput was a believer and a strong supporter of STEM education...”

Raised in a middle-class family in Patna, the capital of India’s crime and corruption-infested  state of Bihar, Sushant’s only real exposure to cinema was the typical song and dance Bollywood dramas that once would have been shown at humble single-screen theatres with broken seats, betel-stained walls and lukewarm colas. But, this impish charmer had decided on his own course and would go on to deviate from his family’s dependable career path of engineering. He packed his favourite books and moved to Mumbai, the City of Dreams, where many before him had arrived in the hope of making it onto the Silver Screen.

Lady Luck had caressed Sushant’s charming face early on: he caught the eye of Ektaa Kapoor, the undisputed czarina of the Indian television industry and daughter of yesteryear actor Jeetendra, who unlike other ‘star kids’ of the Hindi film industry, ducked the dream of making big Bollywood productions in favour of the small screen. Kapoor bet her money on Sushant with Pavitra Rishta, a serial that made him a household name. But Sushant dared to dream a little more – the small screen, he perhaps felt, restricted the scope of his ambitions. He took a leap of faith and made his foray into Bollywood.

Sushant could not have made his debut at a more competitive time. Ranveer Singh, now among Bollywood’s most bankable stars, had just begun acquiring fans by the thousands, while the industry’s first family – the Kapoors – was pushing for Ranbir, son of the late Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh, and grandson of Raj Kapoor, to carry forward the legacy. Despite the odds being firmly stacked against him, Sushant struck gold. His first two films, Kai Po Che! and Shuddh Desi Romance (both released in 2013), earned him critical acclaim and commercial success. His next was a cameo in PK, starring Aamir Khan, followed by a not-so-well-received Detective Byomkesh Bakshy. He bounced back with the hugely popular, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016), a biographical drama on the life of former Indian cricket captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

"Nepotism is there. It's everywhere"

Somewhere between 2016 and 2020, things started to go awry. Sushant’s death by suicide at the age of 34 years of age, has, as a result, opened up a can of worms in Bollywood. The news of his death should have made the industry, and the nation at large, collectively mourn the loss of a promising young actor who had only recently dazzled the silver screen in Chhichhore and soon to star in the much-anticipated, Dil Bechara. Instead, the discourse over Sushant’s death has steadily gone from bad to worse. From allegations of nepotism, professional rivalry, mental health, bullying, and more, things have descended steadily into, in effect, a free-for-all mud-slinging match.

Many have attributed this slanderous, apathetic and acerbic verbal clash to the insider-outsider game that Bollywood loves playing. Its ‘Privilege Club’, with its stars and star kids, ensures that those from outside the industry - irrespective of talent – never feel at home. Ironically, the poster boy of this club - Shah Rukh Khan - was himself once an outsider, but his steady rise brought him into a privileged camp where his friends, director-producer Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, among others, tend to set the fate of many newcomers to the industry.

Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur, in whose film Paani Sushant was pencilled as lead protagonist before Aditya Chopra’s Yash Raj Films shelved the project, wrote a cryptic tweet following the actor's demise. “I knew the pain you (Sushant) were going through. I knew the story of the people that let you down so bad that you would weep on my shoulder...,” Kapur tweeted. Perhaps aware that revealing anything more could trigger his own excommunication, Kapur withheld any further disclosures though Sushant’s fans pleaded with the filmmaker to ‘spill the beans’.

Nepotism is not new to Bollywood. There are countless instances of ‘star kids’ launched by doting parents and big production houses. Their films generally do well. In case they do not, there is always the safety blanket of a ‘re-launch’. For outsiders, like Sushant, the rules are different. Sushant had once said in an interview: “Nepotism is there, it’s everywhere. You can’t do anything about it… but if you deliberately don't allow the right talent to come up, then there is a problem.”

“It takes double the talent, energy and hard work for an outsider to convince the audience and the industry that he or she is as safe a box office bet as mediocre, unmotivated and entitled establishment elite,” filmmaker Dibakar Banerjee told news agency PTI after Sushant’s death. 

Several videos and excerpts of Sushant’s writings on social media have gone viral since his death. In some, the late actor is seen repeatedly asking for acceptance in the film industry, pleading with his fans to make his films a success at the box office for fear of a short career. The lack of a professional godfather no doubt spurred him to do this. 

In the wake of Sushant’s death, nepotism in Bollywood is being called out afresh. The industry's enfant terrible, Kangana Ranaut, lost no time in blaming the nepotism brigade for Sushant's death. With her penchant for everything controversial, Kangana had once famously called filmmaker Karan Johar ‘the flag bearer of nepotism’. Not to be outdone, at the 2017 IIFA Awards, Johar and actors Saif Ali Khan and Varun Dhawan — all second-generation celebrities — performed a skit aimed at an absent Kangana that ended with them chanting “nepotism rocks”. Johar and other card-carrying members of Bollywood’s nepotism brigade are now being accused of abetting Sushant’s suicide. Instances of the filmmaker laughing hysterically when guests who appeared on his popular TV chat show, Koffee with Karan, were dismissive of the actor, have returned as clips to haunt him on social media. In a country where frivolous cases being filed in courts is routine, Sushant’s death has also become one such with a fan moving a plea before a court to try Johar and other celebrities for abetting his suicide.

The struggle with depression

In the midst of this cacophony, other unsettling rumours of how Sushant was 'mentally unstable' have emerged. Was there an attempt at a Bollywood cover-up, or was there really some element of truth in it? Everything about Sushant, his relationship with rumoured girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, his personal struggle with depression, his alleged temper tantrums and debauched lifestyle, have all been called in for scrutiny. Sushant's psychiatrist, in a much-disapproved breach of doctor-patient trust, also joined this circus revealing how the actor was mentally troubled and was advised medication.

Reports that his mother’s death in 2002 lay the foundations for his depression, have now surfaced. The actor’s last Instagram post, uploaded on June 3 along with a collage of his late mother, is being touted as evidence of a mind swamped with despair. Sushant often mentioned he did not have many friends and spent most of his free time reading books. Clearly, his successful, albeit thin filmography, had earned him millions of fans but these, perhaps, did not sufficiently compensate the loneliness that came with being away from home filming productions. Sushant is not the first celebrity to fall foul to the loneliness that fame can bring.  The actor Deepika Padukone has often spoken about her own similar struggle with depression. After Sushant’s death, Deepika once again stressed the importance of listening. One remembered Sushant's tweet from a year ago: “It’s okay to let it out and not hold it inside. It’s not a weakness but a sign of strength."

Sushant’s death has made one thing clear. If in the same industry there can be both a revered actor, who despite enjoying fame and wealth, succumb to suicidal thoughts, as well as many other actors whose talents are overlooked and cast aside due to their pedigree or family tree, the industry requires change.