Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by suicide in June has led to a heated discussion across India. The tragedy has sparked conversations about mental health and also more volubly, nepotism. In a country where entry into every field from politics to law to big business is facilitated by kinship ties, allegations that Rajput took his life because he had been marginalised by a handful of families who are perceived to control the Hindi film industry immediately struck a chord.
However, this conversation had a dark side. Several people seem to be cynically using the tragedy to ride their pet hobby horses. For instance, some in the film industry seem to be using Rajput’s death to settle past conflicts. In some cases, dangerous speculation has been floated: actor Kangana Ranaut, for example, without a shred of evidence, described Rajput’s death a case of “planned murder”.
Even more unusually, Rajput’s death has been given a political overtone. An article in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s mouthpiece Organiser directly connected the outrage around the tragedy to Hindu nationalist tropes. “More than nepotism, grave charges of spinning anti-India pro-Islamist-Leftist narrative have raised concerns,” it claimed. In addition, Rajput’s Bihari identity has played a role, with prominent politicians from the state such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav demanding that the Central Bureau of Investigation take over the case.
Pushing these twin poles of film and politics is a vast media mob, both in traditional outlets as well as on social media, who have spun a variety of conspiracy theories about the actor’s demise.
The Mumbai Police investigation into Rajput’s death has cast a wide net. The statements of more than 40 people have been recorded so far. They include directors Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Chhabra and film critic Rajeev Masand. Much of the official investigation has been conducted against the backdrop of intense media speculation – again, without offering any evidence – about the role various people in the film industry have allegedly played in driving Rajput to his death.
In the case of Masand, the Indian Express reported that the questioning had focused on reviews he had written about Rajput’s films and ratings he had given to them – a line of questioning that seemed to echo rumours whizzing about on social media.
Problems such as nepotism in the film industry certainly need to be discussed. However, given the volume of conspiracy theories being floated, caution is definitely in order. While it is important that the Mumbai Police conduct a thorough investigation into the manner of the actor’s death, they must ensure that they are not be driven by rumour, online hashtags, political campaigns or the personal agendas of other film professionals.