After Bollywood actor Sushant Singh
Rajput died last month, everyone was shocked. He was at the height of his
career, his last released movie had done Rs 100+ Crores business, he was in the
pink of his health and about to get married. No one could come to terms with
his untimely death. But his death was not the first such “shocking celebrity
death” we had seen. We have had a long list of actors, actresses or
celebrities, like Divya Bharti, Sri Devi, or Sunanda Pushkar, who died
mysterious deaths when they were perfectly fit and healthy. So, what made
Sushant’s case different?
I am thinking about Sushant’s death
being “different” because the grief, shock, and mass hysteria we have witnessed
after his death have been truly unprecedented. Even Sri Devi’s death shocked
one and all, but the mass grieving did not last so long and with so much
intensity. Why could not people move on and why are they still stuck in the
first stage of grieving process: denial?
Let us go into the details to
understand it better.
After news about Sushant Singh Rajput’s
death came out, the first thing which shocked everyone were his dead body’s pictures
right from his bedroom and a red scar properly visible on his neck. Whoever
released those photos out in the public within a few hours of his death needs
to answer to his/her conscience about why he/she did that. We had never seen
such death images before and after we saw those pictures, we could not forget anything.
It was going to haunt us for a long time.
Second, I remember the first day of
his death. Most people were able to get it that his death was a case of “suicide”.
On that day, I was among the few people who immediately suspected that his
death was not a suicide but it was a murder. I wrote about it in a blog post
titled, “Reasons
Why Sushant Singh Rajput's Death Looks Like a Murder Case” and it was a tremendous
hit, getting 1200 views on day-1 and by now it has got 9000+ views and 25
comments. None of my blog posts in the recent past have ever got such a
response. One of the reasons why my blog post was a hit was because I was one
of the first who started talking about the “murder angle”. And within a few
days, everyone was talking about it.
Why did this suspicion that Sushant’s
death was a murder and not a suicide become so popular? I think it was mainly
because of those leaked photographs which showed Sushant’s well composed face
to us. Earlier, most of us had even believed Sri Devi’s death to be a case of murder,
but no one pursued it beyond one’s imagination, forget about starting a
campaign for its proper investigation. We treated Sushant’s case so
differently, even though Sri Devi was much more popular pan-India and in all
age groups, as compared to Sushant. I think those pictures made a huge
difference.
Then, within a few weeks after his
death, autopsy, postmortem reports, initial investigation reports, all pointed
to the fact that his death was a suicide and not a murder. But we did not
believe any of such evidences. And here, I shall come to the second reason why
people reacted to Sushant’s death in an unprecedented manner. It was because “people
wished it not to be a suicide”.
Yes. I think that deep inside, everyone
wanted his death not to be a suicide, and that was the reason why we have not
yet come to terms with his death. We are still in the “denial” phase.
To all people, Sushant looked like a
perfect specimen of a “son” or a “brother” most people aspire to have. He was
bright in studies, he was good natured, he was a family person, he worked hard
and achieved his goals. What more do we expect from our sons? Everyone saw his/her
brother or son or friend in Sushant: he had that universal charisma. It made
coming out of grief even more difficult for us.
I wish that at some point of time, we
all have to move on from this episode. Sushant Singh Rajput is dead; and no
fact can change it. Whatever happens to anyone or the other will not impact his
soul. The police are already investigating his death and we should allow them
time to come to a conclusion. We need to have faith that if there was a foul
play in his death, it will eventually come out, as most secrets come out sooner
or later.
To conclude, I think to a large
extent the initial photographs of his dead body made a huge impact on the minds
of people. And then, Sushant had a universal appeal in the minds of most
Indians and we desperately wanted his death not to be a suicide. These factors
caused us not to accept the postmortem report, or any medical report about his mental
health condition. But, we cannot live in denial forever. At some point of time,
we have to come to terms with his death and the sooner we get, it will be
better for our own mental wellbeing.
Future will tell more about how our country
comes to terms with his death. But Sushant Singh Rajput’s death will always be
remembered as an unprecedented event where our masses showed empathy and
sentiments like never before. We should always be proud of this fact.
- Rahul Tiwary
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