SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT.

 

He was born at Patna to Krishna Kumar Singh, as the youngest of 5 children. The rest 4 were his sisters. One of his sisters Mitu Singh became a state level cricket player later. His family moved to Delhi after his mother’s death in 2002 where he completed his schooling.

He was an avid reader and was fond of Astrophysics and won the National Olympiad in Physics. He wanted to become an Astronaut or an Air force pilot, but his family put him into studying Mechanical Engineering at Delhi College of Engineering. He was also interested in Bollywood being a fan of Shah Rukh Khan.

When he was doing his Engineering he enrolled in Shiamak Davars dance troup and attended classes under theatre director Barry John. In his 4^th year of Engineering he dropped out of college and decided to take up a career in Bollywood. He moved to Bombay and took up odd jobs. He then joined Nadira Babbars theatre group and stayed with it for two and half years.

He was cast as a 2^nd lead in the TV serial ‘Kish Desh Me Hai Mera Dil” in 2008. Ekta Kapoor was very impressed by him and cast him in another serial “Pavitra Rishta” being telecast in Zee channel against their wishes. He won various Television awards for his role.

In 2011 Sushant Singh was cast in “Kai Po Che” The film has earned a commercial and critical success. For the film, Sushant received a Filmfare nomination for best debutant actor. 

He then starred in Amir Khans PK and later in “Sudh Desi Romance” in 2013 which became hits. Shekhar Kapoor then described him as the most inspiring young actor to emerge out of India. And he was occasionally referred to as the next Shah Rukh Khan. He then starred in “Detective Vyomkesh Bakshi” released in 2015 which was a critical success if not a commercial one.

He was then cast in “ MS Dhoni: The Untold Story” released in 2016 and of course it was a great success becoming the 5^th highest grosser that year. He received critical acclaim and was nominated for many prestigious awards including “ Filmfare Awards, International Indian Film Academy Awards and winning a nomination for the Film Festival of Melbourne.

At the time of release of Dhonis biopic Sushant told the media that he was signed for 5 other films “Rabta, Takadum, Chanda Mama Door Ke and 2 other films. In Rabta Sushant and Alia Bhat were cast in the lead roles in 2015 but Alia Bhat dropped out later in the same year. In 2017 he featured in the Forbes India’s top 100 list.  Rabta released with Kriti Sanon as the lead instead of Alia Bhat in 2017 and it flopped.

He started shooting for Karan Johars “Drive” along with Jacqueline Fernandez but the release of the film was postponed twice in 2018 on account of differences between Karan Johar the producer and Mansukhani the Director.

His next film Kedarnath of Abhishek Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor was initially embroiled in controversy as the theme had an inter religious marriage between a Hindu and a Muslim and the BJP wanted it banned.  It was banned in some districts in Uttarakhand and despite the ban became a commercial success.

In 2018 Sushant was inducted into a company named “ Innsaei Venntures” along with 2 other directors already there. They planned to invest Rs 300 crores in the company which worked in the fields of intellectual property and emerging technologies. He was signed in by the NITI Ayog to become a brand ambassador of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Platform and for promotion of the BHIM mobile payment app.  The same year Rajput announced a creative venture by Innsaei of a 12 biopic series where he would play the role of various historical characters between the years 540 BC to 2015 AD.

In 2019 his film “Sonchiriya” was released. It received positive critical reviews and picked up awards but was not a commercial success. Then came “ Chhichhore” released in 2019 and it became a commercial success. Before the release of his film “Sonchiriya” in an interview Rajput revealed that he was in talks for 12 other films including Chandamama Door Ke.

Finally his old film “Drive” of Karan Johar that was pending for release was released on Netflix in Nov 2019 as a cost cutting measure.

In 2019 he featured for a 2^nd time in the Forbes annual top 100 celebrity list. In January 2020 Sushant floated an NGO “Front India for World Foundation” with intent for working towards eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

In 2017 Rajput was signed for a directorial debut of Mukesh Chabra for a Hindi remake of a Hollywood film. It was finally titled “Dil Bechara” and also featured Saif Ali Khan and Rehman as a music composer. The release date was set for May 2020 and it could not be released due to Covid. It was finally aired through Hotstar after his death and had a record number of views.

Sushant’s personal life had its share of controversies. In 2011 Rajput proposed to his co star Anikta Lokhande on the show Jhalak Dikhlaja during a National Broadcast. In 2012 they started living together. The media talked about their marriage. Rajput stated in an interview that marriage and living together are no different and it is hypocritical to say that the former is legal while the latter is a crime. In 2016 Rajput confirmed that a lavish wedding would be held in December but they separated before that. Which means they lived together for 4 years?

He was later rumored to be dating his Rabta Co star Kriti Sanon which was denied by both. When the sets of Padmaavat were vandalized by the Rajput Karnisena, Rajput supported the producers of the film. For his role in “Chandamama Door Ke” he was sent to NASA for training which he wanted to go back and complete his instructor training for the Artemis program of 2024. He also purchased a 16 inch telescope for stargazing. He had a collection of 125 books on his subjects of interest which included Astrophysics, Physics, Cognitive science and Behavioral Economics.

He used to bring books to the sets and used to read them during the breaks. In 2018 there was another rumor that he is dating his “Kedarnath” co actress Sara Ali Khan but the rumors were never confirmed and they broke up.

In 2019 he started dating Rhea Chakravarthy. They met at a party in April 2019 and dated thereafter.  She found a company for artificial intelligence named Vividrage with her brother and Rajput in Sep 2019. However, it just had a nominal paid up capital. They moved together in December 2019 and lived with Rajput till 8^th June 2019 when she moved out. On 9^th June Rajput's manager Disha Salian committed suicide by jumping out of the 14^th floor of a building and Rajput committed suicide on 15^th June.

 He conveyed to his father that he would marry in 2021 but his father knew about only Ankita Lokhande and nothing about the others.

On 14^th June 2020 Rajput aged 34 was found dead in his Bandra home hanging from a ceiling fan. As per the post mortem death occurred between 11.30 AM and 1.30 PM. Police said it was a case of suicide and he was suffering from clinical depression and bipolar disorder. No foul play was noticed by the police. On 25^th July Rajputs father lodged an FIR at the Patna police station naming Rhea Chakravarthy and 5 others of abetment of suicide.

On 31^st July the Enforcement Directorate has filed a case to investigate money laundering of Rajputs accounts by Rhea Chakravarthy, her parents and associates.