Kriti Sanon remembered Sushant Singh Rajput in a moving post on Instagram. (Photo: Kriti Sanon/Instagram)
Tributes continue to pour in for late actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Rajput died by suicide on Sunday, the Mumbai Police confirmed. He was only 34. The case is currently being investigated by police who stated that the actor suffered from depression and had sought counselling. He, however, was not taking any medication.
On Monday, Sushant’s family members were flown into Mumbai for his funeral. It took place at Vile Parle crematorium. Apart from his family and close friends, celebrities like Rhea Chakraborty, Kriti Sanon, Shraddha Kapoor, Mukesh Chhabra, Ekta Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Dinesh Vijan, Krystle D’Souza, Nupur Sanon, Varun Sharma, Abhishek Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi, Ranvir Shorey among others marked their attendance.
Sushant Singh Rajput was one of the few stars who had successfully transitioned from television to movies. He apparently looked up to Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who also famously started his showbiz journey from TV. After hearing the news of his death, Shah Rukh took to Twitter to pay his last respects to the MS Dhoni actor. Sharing a photo of himself and Sushant, SRK tweeted, “He loved me so much…I will miss him so much. His energy, enthusiasm and his full happy smile. May Allah bless his soul and my condolences to his near and dear ones. This is extremely sad….and so shocking!!”
"A part of my heart has gone with you and a part will always keep you alive," wrote Kriti Sanon on Instagram as she remembered Sushant Singh Rajput.
The actor, who was rumoured to be dating the 34-year-old, shared adorable photos from their time together.
Vikas Gupta shared a video of himself with Sushant Singh Rajput, giving a throwback to their moments together. He mentioned, "Mental illness is real." He thanked Sushant for taking care of his brother like his own.
"Thank you for taking care of my brother like your own. You kept him with you as your family for so long that i lost count of months - (No rent was ever shared or any expenses- he was the older brother) You taught him , loved him & trained him even better than I did. Gratitude for whatever it’s worth now. I am sorry I couldn’t help cause I needed it myself. RIP," the post read.
Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh, remembering Sushant Singh Rajput on Monday, spoke about how his work has etched a place in everyone's heart.
"God Bless your soul Sushant. Honestly lost for words since yesterday. Your Good deeds in silence have ensured that you will be remembered forever. You are a blessed soul. At a young age you made a mark in an industry that millions only dream of. It is not easy to have achieved what you did. But YOU DID. Such a great talent. My condolences with your family , loved ones and all those fans who loved you and will remember you for all eternity. You not only immortalised yourself with great performances but etched a place in everyone’s heart with your sensitivity," he wrote on Instagram.
Television actor Sara Khan shared a note on Instagram that read, "And another one bites the dust. Another one is laid to rest. After fighting a long, hard battle in the industry. He came from a small town, with dreams to make it big. He did make it big. But I guess destiny had different plans for him."
She continued, "A moment of silence for all the incredibly talented actors who succumbed to depression by believeing that they were not good enough."
After Sushant Singh Rajput’s cremation on Monday, his Pavitra Rishta co-star and ex-girlfriend Ankita Lokhande visited the actor’s house to meet his family.
Tahir Raj Bhasin said that he will "remember" Sushant Singh Rajput "as the boy who dared to dream." In an Instagram post, he wrote, "Your passionately curious intellect , deep fascination for astronomy and what lies beyond lead to the most awesome on set conversations. You could go from quantum physics to picking up dance choreography in seconds and that is what made you unique . Your journey was inspiring and your insights and advice always generous. The world lost a gem much too soon. Saddened that today you lost what must have been an extremely difficult mental health battle. I hope that in the defeaning silence of your demise society wakes up to the need to more urgently and openly address mental health."
Actor Prakash Raj shared an old video of Sushant Singh Rajput where he can be heard addressing nepotism in Bollywood. He tweeted, "I have lived through this. I have survived. My wounds are deeper than my flesh. But this child Sushant Singh Rajput couldn't. Will we learn. Will we really stand up and not let such dreams die?"
When Twitter user, @DeepakThakur_10, asked Vidyut Jammwal why he did not tweet anything about Sushant Singh Rajput, the actor replied, "Silence speaks volumes if you stop & listen. Absent tears/ inability to write heartfelt eulogies and remembrances could also be a way of expressing grief. Neither the departed soul nor the family is reading the Tweets, so who to write for? We all grieve and mourn- I do it quietly."
"The pain is deep. I'm shocked and speechless. It's difficult to even write a tribute," actor Pankaj Tripathi tweeted.
Reacting on the social media rage against a few members of the film fraternity after Sushant Singh Rajput's death, Shekhar Kapur tweeted, "Naming few people has no value. They themselves are products and victims of a ‘system’ everyone is protesting against. If you really care, if you’re really angry, then bring down the system. Not the individual. That’s guerilla warfare. Not a spurt of anger."
In a post, comedian Mallik Dua has asked her followers to not ask a couple of questions that can pressure an individual, especially from the entertainment industry, to question their self-worth. Dua wrote, "A lot of people both inside and outside the entertainment industry are coming out to offer love and advice and it's sweet. While we are at it, please do take my advice (and I know I speak for most) and stop asking entertainment professionals - "so what are you working on these days?" "I miss your old work" "so when are we seeing you on screen next?" "xyz is giving you tough competition haan" STOP doing that. You don't realise the pressure you put on them. And it's as uncomfortable for a struggler as it is for a superstar in a way only they understand, It's as bizzare as asking somebody, "teri promotion kab hogi? kab badhegi teri salary" (when will you get your promotion? when will you get a hike in salary?)" She added, "It reinforces the idea that opporunity, numbers and external validation = self worth. I think we know how harmful and grossly untrue that idea is. The next time somebody ask you what you are working on, please say, "minding my own business.""
Popular television actor Rithvik Dhanjani took to Instagram to share a video a day after Sushant Singh Rajput's death. The two were a part of the popular daily-soap Pavitra Rishta. In the video, Rithvik Dhanjani said, “It’s funny how suddenly people have realised that they are going to be there. aise zameer kaise jaag gaya? I too have been getting these messages. I don’t need it. The one who needed it didn’t have it. And somewhere we are all culprits that we couldn’t be there when we could have been.”
“Let’s all become more human. Stop judging people and start to genuinely care abouteach other,” he added.
Actor Amol Parashar on Monday took to Twitter to post a moving tribute to Sushant Singh Rajput.
He tweeted, "Young actors are shaken, including me. I can feel it in my bones and flesh, I have seen it in the eyes of the few people I have seen since yesterday, I have heard it in the voices of friends I have spoken to. Did every young actor from out of town receive a call from their family yesterday? I believe so. Whether we see it clearly or not right now, our families can see and feel from afar what this means."
The actor further wrote, "I know each one of us has fought a battle of perception before coming here. some convinced their families, some fought and rebelled, some made a promise to come back if things didn’t work out in a certain period of time. Not that any of us thought it was easier than what our families believed. It’s just that we were willing to fight these fights. You point to certain people and say ‘Look Papa, he/she did it. It’s possible’. That is an attempt to convince yourself as much as it is to convince them. In fact, your dreams and aspirations may not even be as big as some of those really famous names.
"A friend I spoke to yesterday, said that as of today, his best case scenario of where he would like to end up is maybe half of where Sushant was today. “Should I quit?” he added. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. In face of uncertainty, we cling to hope. In a profession as uncertain as this, you need sources of hope, whether from your own life or others’, whether real or imagined. Sushant was one of the “biggest” names in recent times to come from out of this town, and therefore a source of hope for similar young boys and girls, whether we were actively aware of it or not. We are now acutely aware of it as it shatters. From Bandra to Andheri, Goregaon, Malad, to Mira Road and beyond, thousands of young actors like me are sitting alone in their rooms right now wondering what this all means, trying to make sense of this strange mess of feelings and thoughts. I wish I could buy each one of them a beer, sit with them, raise a toast to Sushant, look up to the stars and tell him ‘your dream lives on bro’, in every single one of the thousands and thousands of us, and we hear you, we know what you are trying to tell us here. To not leave each other alone, to not be hard on ourselves. And to grow aware that in the end your self-worth is not about the size of your car, or the brand of your watch, or what other people think about your life and successes."
"You fought the hard fight on our behalf, right at the frontlines of ambition and hardwork, and unknowingly gave us hope on days we had run out of it. Thank you Sushant!" Amol Parashar concluded.
In a video shared by Neha Kakkar, her brother and singer Tony Kakkar paid a beautiful tribute to Sushant Singh Rajput.
After Sushant Singh Rajput's demise, the actor's cousin's wife breathed her last in Purnia, Bihar. As per a report in TimesNow.com, she could not cope up with the news of Sushant passing away.
In a series of tweets, director Hansal Mehta asked actors to not "fall for the trap" as the ones who celebrate you will "celebrate your downfall some time later."
After attending Sushant Singh Rajput's funeral on Monday, actor Vivek Oberoi wrote a heart-wrenching note and hoped that the industry does some serious introspection.