Sushant Singh Rajput went from the small screen to Bollywood⁠— and gave up on life while his career was peaking

• The news of 34-year old actor committing suicide shocked the entire nation. He is the fourth Bollywood celebrity to die within two months. Wajid Khan, Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan Khan being the other three.
• Rajput who made his debut with a Balaji Telefilms show “Kis Desh mein hai mera dil” in the year 2008 — became one of the very few Bollywood actors to have with Indian television shows to finally become a protagonist playing roles in movies like M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story,Shuddh Desi Romance among others.

Sushant Singh Rajput, who in his film “Chhichhore”, taught his teenage son and thousands of people watching the movie not to give up and commit suicide, couldn’t restrain from himself at his Bandra apartment in Mumbai.

The news of 34-year old actor committing suicide shocked the entire nation. He is the fourth Bollywood celebrity to die within two months. Wajid Khan, Rishi Kapoor and Irrfan Khan being the other three.

Moreover, people are concerned about the gravity of depression in the Bollywood industry because of coronavirus lockdown — ever since the news about Rajput’s tragic death broke.

From Indian Television to Bollywood

Rajput who made his debut with a Balaji Telefilms show “Kis Desh mein hai mera dil” in the year 2008 — became one of the very few Bollywood actors to have with Indian television shows to finally become a protagonist playing roles in movies like M.S Dhoni: The Untold Story,Shuddh Desi Romance among others.

The Ekta Kapoor led production house chose Rajput while he was on stage performing one of Ekjute's plays. A year later, Rajput bagged the role of Manav Deshmuk in Zee TV’s Pavitra Rishta — and received three major television awards for best male actor and most popular actor. At the time of Pavitra Rishta, Rajput also participated in Zara Nachke Dikha 2, a celebrity dance show and was a part of Mast Kalandar Boys Team.

The uncanny resemblance with Dhoni

Soon he became famous for his performance and bagged his first Bollywood film Kai Po Che! — which was based on Chetan Bhagat’s Three Mistakes of My Life — along with Rajkumar Rao and Amit Sadh. Some of his other work also includes Raabta and Kedarnath.

It was later followed with Shuddh Desi Romance with Vaani Kapoor — a Bollywood movie which explored the concept of live-in relationships in India outside the big cities. Rajput has done many hit films but the most popular one was M S Doni: The Untold Story in 2016 — a biography based on a former Indian cricket team captain. The uncanny resemblance of his character with real Dhoni struck a chord with the audience.

His last film Chhichhore was a hit and earned more than ₹150 crore at the box office.

The perils of show business

Soon after the news of Rajput’s death broke, Industry leaders and actors including Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, Ronnie Screwvala expressed grief and sudden shock. Many suspect Rajput may have been suffering from depression.

“I am too shocked and numbed to say anything. I saw the news on TV and then reached out to a few people. And I don’t know. He was like a young brother to me. We exchanged a few messages a week ago, and I got no such hint that he was not feeling well,” Nitesh Tiwari, the director of Chhichore told the media. Tiwari said he had no idea about his battle with depression.

Rajput was bracing for the release of Dil Bechara, a remake of Fault in our stars — had the pandemic not hit, the movie would have released on May 8.

A few days back his former manager Disha Salian also died after she fell from the window of her friend’s residence in Mumbai.