CELEBRITIES 2020 takes a sadder turn for India with Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely death owing to death by suicide.
A huge uproar for the importance of mental health has swept up all over the nation. This horrifying incident that stole the immensely intelligent, talented, and educated actor from us takes us down the sad path of memory lane and reminds us of the other people we have lost to suicide previously.
A few days back, on 26th May, 2020, India lost the Crime Patrol actress Preksha Mehta to suicide. She was found hanging from the ceiling fan by her family members. Her death was owed to chronic depression.
Pratyusha Banerjee, another television actress, who rose to fame with her acting in Valika Badhu succumbed to death by suicide in 2016, 1st April.CELEBRITIES Her cause of death was asphyxiation due to strangling.
Kushal Punjabi, a film and television actor too embraced death in 2019 after he lost all hope and gave up on his life after suffering from depression.CELEBRITIES His death was well planned and under consideration for a long time can be known from the fact that he had distributed his wealth and property between his son and parents in his will.
Another suicide that had shocked all of us was the death of Jiah Khan. This British-American actress who had debuted in the Bollywood film Nishabd lost her life at the age of 25 had apparently hung herself from her ceiling fan in her family home in Juhu. There is some murkiness regarding her death as her family believes there were several factors in a crime scene that doesn’t add up even after 7 years.
Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone, or more popularly known as Guru Dutt was a director, producer, and actor who lost his life to either accidental or planned suicide by an overdose of sleeping pills with alcohol, in 1964.
Coming back to today, Sushant Singh Rajput, who was suffering from depression was found hanging from his ceiling fan on Sunday afternoon by his housekeeper. This 34-year-old promising star has previously lost his mother in 2002. His final post on Instagram revolves around his mother. A few days back, his former manager Disha Salian fell from the 14th floor of her apartment and lost her life.
Sushant Singh Rajput starred in movies like Chhichhore, MS Dhoni, and Kai Po Che and did a remarkable job in all of the movies. A lover of music, books, philosophy, and astronomy, Sushant was a brilliant human that will indefinitely live in our hearts. We didn’t lose just an actor, we lost a gem who rose from ashes and smiled through every rejection.
Mental health and death arising due to ignorance towards it is a stark reality and a sad one at that. Whether it be losing the singer whose songs you grew up listening to, the actor who was as real as a boy next door or someone closer to home or school, death rattles us and provides a reality check on the fragility of everything around us, even life itself.
Mohona Bhattacharya
Banaras Hindu University
2nd Year, English Hons.
Varanasi, UP.
Mohona is an avid reader and an equality seeker. She takes a keen interest in painting and finds solace among books, coffee, nature, and dogs.
