The death of Sushant Singh Rajput has brought the negative spotlight on several Bollywood biggies, the nexus of Bollywood families, nepotism, and the infamous Godfather culture. However, when these evils are being rightly called out, one such entity, equally responsible and reprehensible for developing this belligerent culture of toxicity is seemingly able to slip past our nose.
That entity is ‘media’ and its culture of worshipping these stars and their star kids. From news as inconsequential as a star-kid picking their nose to the star child’s first day of school, media covers every aspect of this inanity. Traditional as well as ‘new media’ is the hidden pillar which the Bollywood leans upon to push its noxious agenda.
Both are an equal accomplice, if not less, in Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide cum murder.
Abhishek Kapoor also called Gattu in the Bollywood circuit has now revealed that Sushant was kind of lost after ‘Kedarnath’ released as everything was centered around Sara Ali Khan.
“I had not spoken to Sushant for a year and a half. He changed his number 50 times. I remember when ‘Kedarnath’ had come out, the media just slammed him. And I don’t know what happened. Sushant could see that he was not getting the kind of love because everything was being said about Sara. He was not talking to me. Sushant was kind of lost. Then I sent him a few messages,” he said in an interview to Bollywood Life.
The entire publicity of the movie was based around Saif Ali Khan’s daughter Sara Khan who was debuting with the movie. She raked in all the glitz of the press-tour and Sushant Singh Rajput was merely reduced to a filler. When the movie did not do as expected at the box office, Sara took a back seat, and Sushant was put in the front by the media as a scapegoat.
Abhishek Kapoor launched Sushant in Bollywood in 2013 with ‘Kai Po Che!’ and ‘Kedarnath’ was the actor’s second film with him. Kapoor mentioned that media and the Bollywood industry was obsessed with the debutante Khan. Despite being an established face, Sushant Singh Rajput was given second-class treatment.
Abhishek called out the industry for the ‘systematic dismantling of a fragile mind.’
Media reports have stated that producer Ronnie Screwvala only agreed to come on board for Sara only. Further strengthening the argument that talent takes a back-seat in Bollywood.
The same media which hyperventilates with joy when Taimur Ali Khan takes his first step or calls Saif “Abba” did not take much time in tearing apart Sushant who unfortunately did not have a godfather in the industry.
The last time a leading man felt so eclipsed by his heroine was in Imtiaz Ali’s Highway where Alia Bhatt hijacked the limelight completely from her co-star Randeep Hooda.
Media understands the struggle of Ananya Pandey and Vogue gives a photoshoot to Suhana Khan while being empathetic to Alia Bhatt’s lack of General Knowledge. But a self-made star from the streets of Patna, Bihar making it big in the “Mayanagri” is a bitter pill to swallow for everyone.
Self-narcissistic critics like Rajeev Masand paid by the Dharmas and YRFs of the Bollywood go on a spree to character assassinate a guy for a movie. The media which is so hungry for TRPs that it plates anything grotesque in the name of star kid worshiping to the audience which is forced to gulp it down.
One guy who has quietly escaped scrutiny or not explained why he did to Sushant Singh Rajput what he did is the one and only Rajeev Masand. He used to be one of the top to make the worst blinds on him. He even called him a "Skirt Chaser" . I'll post a couple of screenshots below.
— Maya (@Sharanyashettyy) June 19, 2020
The audience invariably watches what is shown on the television, it is a vicious cycle and media is not doing enough to break the cycle. Those saying that the audience demands Taimur content should take a long, hard look upon themselves and think who they are trying to fool.
It was Sushant’s ‘fault’ that he did not suck up to any of the biggies of Bollywood or succumbed to their whimsies. How could he have done that when he was bound by the brilliant inquisitive mind of his which had broadened his horizons for questioning the rationality behind things? Unfortunately, a person who could understand the intricacies of Quantum Physics could not understand the TRP charts of Media and what dominated them.