Sushant Singh Rajput: Inspirational career that saw a horrific end

It was Sunday afternoon, everyone was chilling sitting back at their homes probably having gotten rid of their lunch. Little did anyone know a news is going to break out that was sure to take everyone by shock and leave all of us in tatters. It was revealed by a few news portals that Sushant Singh Rajput, one of the most promising actors in the B-Town, one who has destined it big in the industry hanged himself to death in his apartment in Mumbai. All of us tried to claim it is just fake news and the actor is still fine, we took shots on social media platforms and the people who spread information lacking facts. Within a couple of minutes, the news was airing on all the TV news channels. The biggest of celebrities belonging to Hindi cinema confirmed the shocking turn of events. It was a hard pill to swallow but now after almost an entire day of the happening, we all have admitted that he is no longer with us. We have tried hard to understand the logic behind his death considering he was really successful. His fight with depression could not help from taking the step. We are left with nothing but the memories that a humble, thought provoking, inspirational middle class boy from Bihar provided us. Let's take a look back at his life, his career and the sad end to his life:- 

         Introverted kid 

Sushant Singh Rajput revealed in a number of interviews about how he was as a kid. The audience generally assumes that most of the actors that they admire were the most popular in their respective schools and colleges. People believe that actors always have that confidence in themselves which lead them to become the biggest of stars. That was so not true in the case of Sushant. In an interview given to Film Companion a few years back, he revealed that he was so introverted that barely anyone from his school knew that he actually existed. He was very low on confidence in terms of communicating with people and would stay quiet. It was until he left to college and got a chance to become a background dancer and he even featured in 51st Filmfare awards doing the same. It was this point when he understood that talking is not the only way to communicate with people, performing on stage is a way to get there too. He had joined dancing classes but later on, he decided to enrol in acting classes as well. This is the idea that changed his life since he believed he could communicate with people the best way possible through acting as he found the experience "liberating", in his own terms.

Joining the TV industry 

Unlike most of the actors who believe they need to get directly into Hindi cinema rather than joining TV industry to make it big, Sushant Singh Rajput decided to walk the alternate path unlike most of his contemporaries on the ladder of success. Balaji Telefilms saw the talent in him in one of the plays he did as a theatre artist and they decided to sign him up for a few roles. His first mainstream character was Preet Juneja in a TV show called "Kis Desh Mein hai Mera Dil" and even in a small role, he caught all the eyeballs with the depth in his acting. Later on, he got the lead role in "Pavitra Rishta" as Manav Deshmukh and this was finally the time when people had started recognizing him. His chemistry with Ankita Lokhande, who happened to be a lead female character in the show, was lauded by critics and audience alike. His energy on the show seemed very different and he continued to play the character for a couple of years. This was the time when he decided to quit the show and learn about film making. He wanted to learn the craft more so he could enter the bigger and wider stakes since sticking to TV industry was never his goal. It was a great decision on his part considering the amount of talent he had which did not have much to do in the fragile TV industry.

Impressive film debut 

Sushant Singh Rajput got his break in the films quickly after he quit tv industry and it was a dream start for sure. He starred in "Kai Po Che" as the central character and he was immediately labelled as a "star in the making". It was one of the best debuts of the year and he got back to back roles afterwards. He followed it up with films like Shudh Desi Romance, PK, Detective Byomkesh Bakshi and he left a great impression in each of these outings. He was a standout performer in Shudh Desi Romance and even though he had a very small role in PK, he created a big amount of impact. Detective Byomkesh Bakshi will go down as the most underrated performance on his part as he did a phenomenal job as the central character of the film. If you look back at it, all of these performances were different from each other. It speaks volumes about the versatility that he had as an actor as he could lend any character effectively regardless of the complexities that it had with ease. These initial performances gave him a huge boost but he was yet to be regarded as one of the most popular actors of the industry. 

Entering stardom 

Sushant Singh Rajput was labelled as just a  promising actor until the release of "MS Dhoni: The Untold Story" after which his fate changed completely. This was a part which required him to put an extra effort as he had to learn the mannerisms of MS Dhoni who happens to be one of the most successful Indian cricketers ever. The performance was appreciated by the wide audience and it saw a rapid increase in his following too. He entered the stardom phase and was finally looked upon as one of the most popular leading actors. MSD biopic was followed by "Raabta" which was a very forgettable film and a forgettable performance too. His next few films were "Kedarnath" and "Sonchiriya". His roles were appreciable in both films. He also had a direct OTT release with "Drive". Success and failures are a part of this industry and even though he had a mixed bag kind of response for his performances post MSD biopic, he never showed the signs of disappointment on his face and moved on in his life with all the hard work he could put. He finally gained a blockbuster with "Chhichhore" which went on to become his highest-grossing film as well. His performance in this film gained cult followers once again. He was one of the very few actors to have gained blockbuster in their early 30s itself as only the likes of Ranbir Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Tiger Shroff had done it before him while Arjun Kapoor, Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra had gotten superhits but never a blockbuster. It proved that he was going to be the superstar in the years to come. 

Upcoming films 

After "Chhichhore", Sushant Singh Rajput was supposed to feature in films like "Dil Bechara", "Chanda Mama door ke" and "Rifleman". While Dil Bechara is definitely going to see a release, Chanda Mama door Ke was shelved for the time being due to financial problems. Rifleman might have even completed its shooting by now had it not been for the lockdown. There were many roles which he was about to sign as most of the directors looked up to him and wanted him to feature in their films. Sadly, we are not going to see any of him anymore. It breaks my heart every time when I think of it because there was so much more he had in himself. He was a bundle of talent who would shine in a commercial film as well as show his acting capability in a niche or a class film. He was fearless in terms of signing the projects and we were all expecting him to feature in more exciting flicks. 

He did not have many friends in the industry, his father stayed away from him and his mother had passed away a long time back. People thought he had all the money and all the success in the world to be proud of, he wasn't handed any of it. He had to strive a lot and work his way up which made him a respectable actor and an inspiration. Whenever he spoke and gave out his opinions, he seemed like someone who actually knew what he was talking about. He intended to learn new things from time to time and make the most out of the time. He might have lacked the emotional support which made him quit life in a nutshell. We cannot bring you back Sush but wherever you are, we hope you have found the peace that you failed to get when you were alive. You will forever be remembered as a guy who fought his demons hard but now that I look back, enough wasn't really enough. 

Rest in peace Sushant Singh Rajput!