Sushant Singh Rajput: The ever-smiling actor

‘Kai Po Che!’ had a countrywide theatrical release in February 2013 and was based on Chetan Bhagat’s ‘The Three Mistakes Of My Life’. Coming a year ahead of the General Elections in 2014, it had all the key ingredients in place, albeit fictionalised. There was cricket, there was communal bonhomie, and then the subsequent lack of it, and of course there was politics, plenty of it, and the earthquake and riots as well. Anyone who followed national politics in the decade leading up to it, could identify the tenor of the film, easily.

And yet, when I walked out of the Satyam cineplex in South Delhi’s bustling Nehru Place that went to sleep on a Sunday, it wasn’t the what (the film showed) but the whom (the movie had) that stayed with me for a long time. Later over dinner, I dissected the movie threadbare with a girlfriend, and we both concurred: Sushant Singh Rajput is what you call a stallion in B-town, loosely translated, “ lambi race ka ghoda”, a very good-looking one that.

The guy had potential.

A boy from Patna, with roots in Purnea. Moves to Delhi. Dreams in his eyes that shone through. A bright student, cracks the science exams, hell, even gets through engineering. And guess what, drops out of engineering to pursue his dream - of theatre and acting - and follows his heart. And makes a really big deal of himself and his life! Isn’t that what our new set of icons should be, I thought: the ones who kept it real?

From being noticed in his role on Zee’s TRP-garnering ‘Pavitra Rishta’ to his swashbuckling act as a Dhoni-bee or a Dhoni reel doppelganger, this was one actor who seemed earnest without overdoing it. So much so that his prep for ‘M S Dhoni: The Untold Story’ of 2016 included bonding with MSD’s then infant daughter, Zoya. And that Rajput had done his homework right, showed on screen with the then-Captain Cool acknowledging his effort. Rajput had established a sense of camaraderie and ease before the shoot began which probably made MSD, known to be fiercely private, let him become a part of his inner circle.

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If I walked away with warm memories about ‘Kai Po Che!’, it had largely to do with Rajput’s sincerity on screen. There was an innate charm, that honestly I think he was not able to replicate in his future endeavours on screen. And while my friend was willing to bet on Amit Sadh as the next suave villain who had a certain sense of arrogance in being toxic, I wasn’t sure. And hindsight showed that my instinct trumped.

Rajput’s effusive charm and his easy ways came across in roles he played effortlessly, in the much-controversial ‘Kedarnath’ that courted controversy over communal hues in the plot. Or the efficient, almost-bordering OCD sleuth in Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!’. Some critics found him too good-looking, and flawless, to play detective!

Ah, well.

It’s not always that we are able to choose the roles we want in life. Sometimes the roles choose us. And who better than tinsel-town folks to know that. With Rajput, an adventure on the field chasing cricketing glory,seemed like his last, big outing on screen. Releases subsequent to Byomkesh and Dhoni - forgettable misadventures like ‘Raabta’, ‘Kedarnath’ and ‘Sonchiriya’ - came and went, without a whimper.

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If a journalist is as good as his/her last byline, an actor, too, is pretty much judged by similar parameters, for the Friday showing or no-showing. In a highly-competitive Bollywood arena, it’s not just the one with the looks or the charm or the connection who survives, any longer. It’s also the one who knows how to choose the right scripts, tweet the right thoughts, succinctly, and do the hashtag right on the ‘most-relevant’ Instagram campaign.

And that probably explains why Rajput, after the box-office no-shows since ‘M S Dhoni’ chose to seek comfort in waters known to him. In 2018, he, along with serial entrepreneur Varun Mathur, launched a startup called Innsaei Ventures that was supposed to create intellectual properties based on virtual reality, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence. He was also signed up by the govt think-tank NITI Aayog to promote the Women Entrepreneurship Platform.

In 2019, he also signed a remake of John Green’s bestseller, ‘The Fault in Our Stars’, that was to be directed by Mukesh Chhabra. Who knew that the ever-smiling actor would take the title so seriously and give up on Life itself.