Sushant Singh Rajput’s sudden demise has left the entire country in shock. While the Mumbai police declared the whole situation to be suicide, some people were not satisfied with it. In fact, several questions were raised regarding the whole situation.
Just after the situation, a huge discussion about nepotism erupted. Figures like Karan Johar and Mahesh Bhatt were discussed at length. While several people keen in looking for the reason that pushed Singh to take his own life, some even hinted at murder. The case took a different turn when Sushant Singh’s father KK Singh filed an FIR against Sushant’s alleged girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.
Since the case has been handed over to the Bihar police, several shady facts like the transfer of the huge amount of money to different accounts have surfaced.
Parallel to the investigations of the Bihar Police, several people including journalists and actors of high profile have made speculations regarding the case. While the actions come from a place of concern and love, wrong speculations can cause a lot of misunderstanding and hurt the emotions of certain people.
Recently in a video that has gone viral, journalist Navika Kumar from Times Now was seen playing videos of Sushant Singh Rajput where he looked happy and jolly. Her argument to the allegations of Sushant being depressed was that ‘he doesn’t look depressed’.
While the advancement in Sushant case suggests there could have been a foul play in portraying Singh as depressed and bipolar, it has not yet been proved as a fact.
Following this incident, ScoopWhoop questioned the Primetime news anchor Navika Kumar and Times Now’s the implication that if you don’t ‘look depressed’, you are not depressed.
SW pointed out that being a media and news house whose news reaches millions, such a loose theory regarding what sushant depression looks like must not be popularized. “To use their picture/videos as ‘evidence’ and dismiss their struggles in not just brutal but also irresponsible.”, said the article of ScoopWhoop penned by writer Ira Shukla.
To prove their point that depression may not necessarily look like the person is sad, the SW article mentioned several prominent figures who were suffering from depression but did not ‘look like’ they were.
The first example drawn was Deepika Padukone. Deepika Padukone has always been vocal about her struggle with depression. She never looked like she was sad but her symptoms pointed towards depression. Apparently, her mother noticed the symptoms and her doctor diagnosed it.
Next, they brought in the example of Ileana D’Cruz. She too opened up about her depression in 2018 and said: “Things had got so bad that I was pushing people away”.
SW even gave examples of Hollywood personalities who opened up about their depression which no one had detected.
Ellen DeGeneres the host of The Ellen DeGeneres show who is currently happily married to Portia de Rossi opened up about the depression that had taken hold of her after she revealed her homosexuality.
Even the strong-looking Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson hit rock bottom emotionally during his phase of depression.
Michael Phelps the American swimmer who bagged several Olympic golds too suffered from performance pressure and encountered suicidal thoughts.
Other celebrities from Adele, Selena Gomez, Jim Carrey and Lady Gaga to Bollywood personalities like Karan Johar, Shaheen Bhatt and Manisha Koirala were among the examples drawn in the article.
Examples of personalities like Robin Williams and Chester Bennington, who committed suicide due to probable depression but looked healthy and hearty otherwise was dragged in to the argument.
Mohona Bhattacharya
Banaras Hindu University
2nd Year, English Hons.
Varanasi, UP. Mohona is an avid reader and equality seeker. She takes a keen interest in painting and finds solace among books, coffee, nature and dogs.
