Sushant Singh Rajput died on 14 June. He was found hanging, say the police. Was it a suicide? Or, was it a murder made to look like a suicide? Did he hang himself, or did some people get together and hang him? He had, after all, partied till wee hours of the morning, played PUBG and had a glass of juice in the morning after waking up and then suddenly locked himself up and supposedly hung himself. Why and how he died the police are still investigating.
The only thing — the provisional post-mortem report submitted by doctors at Bandra Police Station says — that the provisional cause of death is asphyxia due to hanging. However, literally the moment the news of his death broke the film industry along with tweeting their shock said that he was battling depression, he was depressed. Police did say they found medication meant to treat depression, but they also said that there was no suicide note.
So far, there has been no statement from the doctors on his depression or any kind of disorder; in fact even when Dr Kersi Chavda was first quoted and then slammed for breaking client therapist confidentiality; DCP Zone 9 Abhishek Trimukhe refuted that claim and said that they had not even spoken to him at that time. Then later one heard that not one, but Sushant Singh Rajput went to four different doctors. And none of them have gone on record to say what the problem was with him. If he had depression then when did it start? How severe was it? And was he bipolar? Was he suicidal? Also, while depressive people can commit suicide how many actually do that? How many people are battling depression in the film industry? Nothing is known.
Could it not be a murder? What if somebody or people killed him or got him killed because of some reason not related to his depression or the film industry?
But murder was not even considered by the film industry. So then this is how the self-goal by the film industry played out.
Here was a young, good looking, successful actor who passed away (and let us ignore the lack of attendance at his funeral — Covid times I agree, but then Rajkumar Rao, Shradha Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Anita Lokhande, Vivek Oberoi, etc did go for his last rites). Immediately, Mukesh Bhatt said that he had feared that the actor “was going the Parveen Babi way and that he was depressive and was a very disturbed soul”. Karan Johar posted: “I have felt at times like you may have needed people to share your life with”. Film journalists talked about his depression and suddenly there was this conversation about mental health within the industry people. Abhishek Kapoor said “Fragile mind”; even Deepika posted about mental health issues. That his father in his statement said he wasn’t aware that he was in depression or being treated for the same was overlooked.
So now, when the film Industry people themselves said he was battling depression, they immediately pointed the fans and people to look for reasons why a young, good looking, successful actor could be depressed enough to take his life.
And that is when all the flood gates opened up. With lockdown in place and in these times of so many different platforms where all shows, videos, articles, comments are freely available on the net–along with Sushant Singh’s films, shows and interviews on films, life and his plans for his future — like say his and NITI Aayog’s flagship initiative Women Entrepreneurship Platform where he was an investor and had put his money in start-ups along with lending his name and spreading awareness, to the times when he gave cheques to Assam and Kerala during floods, etc–all this just made people connect and reconnect with him. This, along with silence from the film industry–as though it was guilty — was enough to bring forth a very strong reaction on the social media, a platform where all people can say what they want to. And Sushant Singh started trending.
On social media , on you tube, on Instagram, Twitter — people started pushing back, highlighting/scrutinising — every fun show, action or mean comments or blind items or interviews as the reason for Sushant’s depression — implying that since the film industry says it is a suicide, here is the reason why he must have done what he did. Nothing was not analysed and conclusions not made. Also, there was no one person who seemed to be leading this outpouring of grief and angry reactions. It was spontaneous and very clear in its positioning.
At this stage instead of saying #JusticeforSushant or #WeStandByYou … nobody — not one of the so-called big names — came out with anything to tell people that “yes we are with you”. Not his young colleagues, not industry seniors, nor his co-stars.
Instead, what did the film industry do? While the silence on Sushant Singh continued, some stars started taking on trolls who came back harder at them and with “proof” and soon it became about what the film industry is, how it operates and treats talent vs the people. Shekhar Suman and Manoj Bajpayee came out to say this case needs to be investigated as it seems to not fit in with what they know of him nor does it seem like a suicide.
Nobody took a cue from that. Instead, when did the film industry react?When KanganaRanaut bashed Karan Johar & Mahesh Bhatt. When she started her videos taking cues from people on social media. Then came Shekhar Kapoor and Sanjay Leela Bhansali vs Aditya Chopra and YRF contradictory remarks. And predictably, it then moved to nepotism, outsider vs insider debate with Anubhav Sinha saying, “The Bollywood Privilege Club must sit down and think hard”; and Shekhar Kapoor saying, “Karma will get them”. Apurva Asrani, Ranvir Shorey, Raveena Tandon, Simi Grewal, all talked about their experiences on the ways of the industry. And then came Kangana Ranaut all guns blazing. On being named, Swara Bhaskar, Tapsee Pannu, Anurag Kashyap jumped in — with lots of to and fro and old videos of one and all being brandied around by the other. Along with actors and directors, other things too came tumbling out. Sonu Nigam supported by Salim Merchant, Monali Thakur, Adnan Sami came out against the “music mafia” and Bhushan Kumar. Chetan Bhagat and Harinder Sikka opened the authors’/writers’ front of not getting their due credit or accolades, etc. Ironically, it is outsiders fighting outsiders and the ugly face of industry is there for all to see.
Now the fire is truly lit. Sure the industry is not a fair place, sure there is a cozy club and sure it needs to clean up its act. And hopefully it does.
But my question is back to the first line: Sushant Singh Rajput died on 14June.The police are still investigating the case. No doctor–not one but four of his doctors–has said how depressed he was? If he was suicidal or not? The police have yet to finish their investigation. So, can anyone from the film industry say for sure if he had depression and was it so serious that it led him to take his life?
Can anyone say that the film industry with all its warts and all killed him? Remember pushing people to commit suicide is punishable by law for up to 10 years. Can anyone say it was not a murder? (After all there are many evidencebased questions that need to be answered).
Yes. The film industry it seems can. For the film industry has decided that it is not a murder, but a suicide due to depression. Why was he depressed? That they are still fighting about. It could be nepotism, ganging up or his weak nature and inability to fight the system. So, the only thing that seems to be clear in this is that the film industry it seems has killed its star and people are angry with the industry for killing him.