This cant be the end, says Mayank Shekhar

For an artiste who passes on at 34 you dont quite look back at their works as much as you genuinely wonder what was in store for the future Not what was But what will never be The shadow cast in front being so much longerThe last time I met Sushant Singh Rajput he was deeply engrossed explaining to me over a smoke his move to theatre The project he was working on involved a series of performances of the same play before live audiences over time But captured with multiple cameras for the screen mdash editingpicking best angles shots takes mdash the way it would be done for any other film Didnt ask him if Virtual Reality VR had anything to do with it because thats what he saw as the future of filmThis was in September last year Right before the release of Nitesh Tiwaris Chhichore mdash returns plus expectations wise arguably the biggest sleeperhit in Bollywood ever Stage wouldve been Rajputs next big step And he came from television Having trained in acting under Barry John he dropped out of a prestigious course engineering in a top Delhi college before moving to BombayThese are the exact footsteps of the other Bollywood star who moved from the capital mdash Shah Rukh Khan Rajputs life in many ways would be a dream coming true mdash the kind of success story that inspires the middleclass metropolitan young He said he had also based it on the SRK line from Om Shanti Om Kabhi kisi cheez ko shiddat se chaho toh saari kaynaat If you will it it happens Can tell you one thing ndash it works he saidSushant Singh RajputAt a more practical level traditionally the transition 0f lead actors from television small screen as it were to cinema has been seen as tough to near impossible mdash with the former deemed as graveyard for the latter Chiefly because people begin to identify so strongly with the characters on TV that the actors actual persona disappears from public imagination altogether Its the opposite of stardom as it were Rajput instantly connected with the masses first as Manav in Ekta Kapoors Zee TV soap Pavitra Rishta 200911At the International Film Festival of India IFFI in Goa in 2017 I witnessed a very different kind of stardom walking through the aisle towards the stage with Rajput with crowds on both sides chanting what sounded to me like ldquoModi Modi Modirdquo Was actually ldquoDhoni Dhoni Dhonirdquo Thats the part hed played in the Indian cricket captains biopic Neeraj Pandeys MS Dhoni The Untold Story 2016He began his film career also as a cricketer in Abhishek Kapoors Kai Po Che 2013 That hit film in many ways mdash and this happens once in few years mdash became the fountainhead for multiple starscareers Amit Sadh became a popular actor from the same film Rajkummar Raos filmography as one of Bollywoods top lead actors kicked off from Kai Po CheVideo Sushant Singh Rajput was a shy person who found it hard to express himself Mayank ShekharRajput of course shone over the rest He had the dominant role in the film What followed was a contract with Yash Raj Films mdash the hugebudget detective thriller Dibakar Banerjees Byomkesh Bakshy 2015 and Maneesh Sharmas romcom Shuddh Desi Romance 2013 Both films centred on him besides a supporting role in the Rajkumar Hirani blockbuster PK 2014Sushant Singh RajputNo matter what your personal opinion on his choices may be mdash whether its Rajput as the coolie Mansoor Khan in Abhishek Kapoors Kedarnath 2018 or the bandit Lakhna in Abhishek Chaubeys Sonchiriya 2019 mdash he was new meritbased BollywoodRisen up the ranks from TV soaps and dance reality shows Zara Nachke Dikha and Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa Proving his worth as a household name and dancer essential entries on a mainstream stars CV Part of Bollywoods competitive audition culture Attaining stardom based on the content of films rather than the accoutrements of showbusiness aloneCheck that filmography again Its worth a retrospective already Cant say the same for a lot of veterans I asked Rajput about Kai Po Che being a pleasant pivot for new talents from outside those with family businesses in films He gave the audience in Goa gyan on how ldquowe derive security from prediction which is evolutionary But preparation is only essential to know what not to dordquo Okay had to leap to connect with that bouncerOn the idea of success he spoke further about ldquoimpact bias mdash a popular revolutionary subject in behavioural economics because its counterintuitive to how we usually thinkrdquo since it practically proves that ldquosuccesses or failures actually dont affect us in the same way that we imagine If you enjoy a process itself though you get so good at the skill that it automatically places you in the top percentile of people on the happiness indexrdquo HmmmOn script selection he declaimed ldquoThis is absolutely the time to encourage failure rather than success According to research 65 per cent of school kids right now will eventually take up jobs that dont currently exist The disruptive technology to enable those jobs is yet to happen Were at the stage of deception since were unawarerdquoOneonone with Rajput to me felt like engaging with an esoteric futuristic seer mdash a Sadhguru for the Silicon Valley mdash at any rate the most wellread among new Bombay stars He was a rankholder across Indias top engineering entrance exams mdash the other middleclass aspiration gone right This after having nearly flunked his Class 12 preboards because his mother had just passed awayHe also held entrepreneurial ambitions networked with the governments thinktank NITI Aayog and generally came across as someone trying to build his brain besides his body in a Bollywood gym And yeah he could take a sociopolitical stand Over the Karni Sena controversy over Padmaavat 2018 Rajput decided to drop his last name ashamed of people from his caste baying for lead actor Deepika Padukones bloodThe first time I saw him will admit I did not like him at all We were on a flight from Delhi together He was returning from Chandigarh where his sister lives This was right after Dhonis release The entire flightcrew had taken a picture with him One flightattendant had missed out He refused to get up and pose for herWhile chatting with him I kept bringing up Bihar since he was a Patnaborn He kept deflecting the conversation to Delhi We spoke about the film Dhoni and the digital technology used to merge MSDs body with his for a couple of hours straight Thats when he seemed most comfortable Maybe his work alone gave him the sanctuary to ease out and feel at homeHe was selfadmittedly an introvert painfully shy seeming socially awkward This may seem ironic about a person who picks up acting the most public profession there is But its quite a common trait Some of the best actors Ive interviewed mdash Akshaye Khanna Ranbir Kapoor Nawazuddin Siddiqui mdash have seemed the hardest to break ice with That apart the inert personality in fact helps them inhabit other humanscharactersparts more easily perhapsAlso there is this bizarre drug called fame that comes with an actors success In ways that it is so unique to the profession that its impossible to tell how the psyche might respond to public love and adulation tending towards obsession that surrounds every move you make every step you take Somebodys watching you Dont know does it get lonelier thenHow do you take thirdrate gossip about yourself sold to millions of salivating voyeurs as the ldquoblind itemrdquo mdash written by moralistic cowards with not even the courage to name the person theyre maligning in public Rajput regularly featured in this highbrow literature mdash often made out to be a wannabe sexcrazy drunk Its hard enough to make it as an outsider Look at that sixpackstamina besides the healthy body of work Id want to be that drunkBy all accounts Rajput suffered from clinical depression The Hindi television news reporter covering his death on my screen says ldquoThe police are going to investigate depression ka kaaranrdquo Exactly Depression has no kaaran reasons Thats the lesson he taught us and left Surely there mustve been some trigger But observe his life from the outside Most of India would give their right arm for it Yet no one I know could sense the darkness that lay withinIn the first scene of his last release Chhichhore the young boy in the film jumps off a building to kill himself Rajput plays the father The entire film is about him explaining to the son the futility of suicide And the various chances that life has on offer Nine months later Rajput hangs himself to death in his own Bandra apartment This cant be the end of that The world is already in the middle of a pandemic For too long weve been characters in a zombie script Whoever wrote this subplot screw you boss seriouslyCatch up on all the latest entertainment news and gossip here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news