MUMBAI: Sushant Singh Rajput‘s suicide has sparked off a conversation around the ruthless ways of Bollywood’s power camps — especially for young aspirants who come to realise their dreams as ‘outsiders’ from all over India, with no bloodline to flaunt.
Fans and netizens blame Salman Khan and Karan Johar for allegedly running a ‘nepotism gang’ in Bollywood and casting star kids in projects that prop their budding careers.
A video of the protest shared by one of the popular paps Viral Bhayani shows fans of Sushant protesting in Patna against Salman Khan and Karan Johar.
According to hearsay, over the past few years, Sushant was replaced in several big banner films including Sanjay Bhansali’s “Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela” and Aditya Chopra’s “Befikre”. (Incidentally, his replacement in both films, Ranveer Singh — although a self-made superstar and an undeniable talent — is related to the Anil Kapoor clan. He is Sonam Kapoor’s cousin.)
Also Twitterati shared an old tweet posted by Kamal R Khan alleging that Salman Khan, KJo’s Dharma Production, Yashraj Films and T-Series had banned the 34-year-old talented actor.
The hashtag #BoycottBollywood has also trended on the micro-blogging site.
Sushant’s popularity was exceptional, in this context. He arrived from Bihar forsaking a promising career in engineering and had his brief struggle as a back-up dancer.
He got his acting break as the main actor’s brother in the TV show “Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil”. It was his second role, in the 2009 soap “Pavitra Rishta” that got him fame. As Manav Deshmukh in the Ekta Kapoor show, he became a household name before quickly entering the list of exciting, new-gen Bollywood stars.
His brief Bollywood career of six years, from “Kai Po Che” in 2013 to “Chhichhore” in 2019, Sushant had nine big screen releases (discounting the Netflix movie “Drive). Of these four — “Kai Po Che”, “PK”, M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story” and “Chhichhore” — are outright hits, which means he had a success rate of 50 per cent, which is more than many contemporary male stars.