Published 17:25 IST, June 14th 2020
Sushant Singh Rajput death: Actor's sporting messages in last big screen film Chhichhore
Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput starred as a leading role in 2019’s comedy-drama tent-pole Chhichhore, a film that highlights the issues of depression.
Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput has reportedly committed suicide at his Bandra residence on Sunday, June 14. The Mumbai police confirmed the demise of the 34-year old to Republic TV after reaching his residence. According to reports, the actor had been suffering from depression for several months. On the Sushant Singh Rajput death day, here is a look at his 2019 comedy-drama blockbuster Chhichhore, a film which ironically highlights the issues of mental depression and suicide.
Sushant Singh Rajput death: Chhichhore, an inspirational take on fighting depression
Sushant Singh Rajput starred as a lead actor in the 2019 Hindil film Chhichhore alongside Shraddha Kapoor, which was directed by Nitesh Tiwari of Dangal fame. In the movie, the actor plays the role of an athletic college student named Anirudh Pathak, who is posed with an uphill task of training his friends in time for the annual sports General Championships (GC). Sushant Singh Rajput himself can be seen participating in various sporting activities like cricket, relay race, basketball and chess.
A major plot of the movie acts as a narration by Anirudh for his son who earlier attempted to commit suicide for failing to enrol himself in the Indian Institute of Technology. Sushant Singh Rajput’s character then goes on to chronicle his college life to his son and explains how sports can help anyone to fight mental depression and face the challenges of life. Two of his famous dialogues go as 'Success ke baad ka plan sabke paas hai ... lekin agar galti se fail ho gaye ... toh failure se kaise deal karna hai ... koi baat hi nahi karna chahta' (Everybody has a plan after being successful, but if they fail by mistake, no one talks about how to deal with failure) and 'Doosron se haarke loser kehlane se kahin zyada bura hai ... khud se haarke loser kehlana' (Being called a loser after losing to others is better than ... being called a loser after losing to yourself).
The movie was widely praised for its narrative themes by critics and audiences alike. It is considered to be one of the finest performance delivered by the actor and the movie also turned out to be a major box-office success. The irony is that despite Rajput acting in such a film, his death has made many question as to how the actor struggled to deal with his difficulties in real life and what were they exactly.
Sushant Singh Rajput death: Sushant Singh Rajput films
Interestingly, Chhichhore is not the only sports-based film committed by Sushant Singh Rajput. Earlier, the cricketer starred as a titular character in the film based on the life of former Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni. The Sushant Singh Rajput’s MS Dhoni movie, titled M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, released in 2016 to both critical and commercial success.
Rajput made his film debut in 2013 in Kai Po Che, a film based a lot on cricket. Other Sushant Singh Rajput films include Yash Raj Banner’s Shuddh Desi Romance and a cameo role in an Aamir Khan-Rajkumar Hirani 2014 venture PK. Apart from PK, Shuddh Desi Romance and a biographical MS Dhoni movie, Sushant Singh Rajput films also include Detective Byomkesh Bakshy, Kedarnath and Sonchiriya. Before Sushant Singh Rajput death, the actor starred in a Netflix distributed movie titled Drive in 2019. However, his role in Chhichhore marked his last theatrical appearance before his upcoming romantic-drama Dil Bechara opens to a posthumous release.
Updated 17:25 IST, June 14th 2020