#JusticeForSushantForum
바카라Why I think Sushanth Singh Rajput was murdered.바카라
바카라 Subramanian Swamy
바카라So was it a suicide or a planned murder?바카라
바카라 Kangana Ranaut
바카라I clashed with the so-called SSR Warriors on Twitter during the lockdown.바카라
바카라 Hansal Mehta, Filmmaker.
***
The dacoit drama Sonchiriya, starring Manoj Bajpayee and Sushant Singh Rajput, was released on March 1, 2019. An excellent film, it was a box-office disaster, grossing a meagre Rs 9.7 crore. If we consider the average ticket price in India to be Rs 119, according to a February 2023 Statista study, then around 8.1 lakh people watched the movie바카라less than the population of Andheri. As if Rajput didn바카라t even exist. Fifteen months later, on 14 June, 2020, his body was found hanging from the ceiling of his Bandra West apartment. And in the coming months바카라amid COVID-19 ravaging lives, the Chinese army advancing towards the border, migrant workers trudging to their homes, many collapsing on the way바카라the country indulged in a baffling alchemy: converting suicide to murder.
Kangana Ranaut led the charge. In a fellow actor바카라s demise, an actor found what she craves her entire life: a perfect story. She posted a two-minute video, rubbishing Rajput suffering from depression, and asked a question: 바카라So was it a suicide or a planned murder?바카라 Ranaut deployed the classic no-smoke-without-fire tactic. Bollywood is incredibly nepotistic and enough reports had surfaced over the years about Rajput바카라s uneasy equations with the film industry바카라s dynasts: Yash Raj Films and Dharma Productions. In the subsequent weeks, this case began to unfold like a TV series, producing a steady stream of episodes, villains and subplots. First came Karan Johar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Shekhar Suman (with his #JusticeForSushantForum), then fans, politicians and TV channels.
Rajput바카라s family entered in late July, filing an FIR against his girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, for the abetment of suicide. And five days later, on 30 July, a tweet by Subramanian Swamy: 바카라Why I think Sushanth Singh Rajput was murdered.바카라 It accompanied a photo detailing 26 pieces of evidence. Twenty-four of them바카라such as 바카라no eye pop out바카라, 바카라SSR playing video game on the morning of 14 June바카라, and the 바카라body language of friends바카라바카라supported the 바카라theory바카라 of 바카라murder바카라. Someone who couldn바카라t spell 바카라Sushant바카라 had become a self-appointed investigator.
But when the 바카라interests of celebrities waned바카라바카라such as, besides Swamy and Ranaut, Sonu Sood and Akshay Kumar바카라바카라the 바카라movement바카라 was taken over by a group of dedicated Twitter users,바카라 wrote researchers Joyojeet Pal and Anirban Sen in their 2022 study, 바카라who started posting regularly on the issue in massive numbers.바카라 The genie was out of the bottle, and the 바카라SSRians바카라, wanting #JusticeForSushant, were born. Some of them were 바카라legitimate fans who often posted바카라 about the actor before his death, add Pal and Sen, but many also joined the 바카라Twitter discussion바카라 after his demise, 바카라probably instigated by the celebrities바카라 initial tweets.바카라
And that바카라s when this story started to swell and twist and flare. Like most movements, it was charged with a deep sense of identification. Their hero, asserted the SSRians, hailed from a small-town, succeeded in Bollywood, and seemed sharp, humble and accessible. This version had the right amount of righteousness and victimisation. Besides, since Rajput had not left a suicide note, his death opened up further speculations and projections. Finding purpose and identity during the bleak COVID year, the SSRians saw in him what they wanted to see. That바카라s why a murder바카라unveiling a clean, intuitive narrative바카라made perfect sense. Suicide was anyway too complex for an online mob바카라and dented its self-image. Because someone like Rajput killing himself바카라a star with no dearth of money, fame, and fans바카라could also be interpreted as a subtle rejection of fandom itself.
In many online posts, while unravelling the 바카라mystery바카라 behind the 바카라murder바카라, they unravelled themselves. Like Ranaut, they denied his mental health troubles. How could a successful man kill himself, they asked? This was a threat to masculinity바카라their most basic identity. By negating the possibility of depression, they squashed a question that could have hit them like a boomerang: If someone like Rajput could die by suicide, then how바카라and why바카라were they safe? And, with the FIR filed against Chakraborty, this crass potboiler met its destiny: a vamp.
바카라I clashed with the so-called SSR Warriors on Twitter during the lockdown,바카라 says filmmaker Hansal Mehta. 바카라They kept trolling me because I had supported Rhea at that time. My only response to them was: If you really claim to be his fans, have you fucking seen Sonchiriya?바카라 The co-author of a data-driven study, 바카라Anatomy of a Rumour: Social Media and the Suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput 바카라, Pal says both 바카라narrative and structural factors바카라 contributed to the story바카라s detonative nature. The former had several elements, which were already quite popular. Nepotism was the first, he tells me over email, followed by a 바카라second narrative more specific to young men from the Hindi heartland who, despite their hard work, are treated as outsiders and eventually pulled down바카라. The third 바카라muddled his on-screen persona with his off-screen life바카라: his 바카라boy-next-door image meant he could not possibly have been doing drugs바카라, pinning the blame instead on his live-in 바카라girlfriend, a Bengali, who precipitated these events바카라.
The desperate search for motives바카라often fuelled by Right-wing Twitter accounts바카라further helped the easy vilification of Bollywood: that it was anti-Hindu, filled with liberals, ruled by Khans. Rajput바카라s main appeal for them, though, lay not inside but outside cinema. A rational person sees a complex actor; a mob sees labels: an upper-caste Hindu, a man, meritorious, clean image, an ex-engineering student, scientifically curious. Now let바카라s unpack the psychology informing SSRians: a desperate desire for identity, love for fake news and conspiracy theories, a penchant for gaming Twitter algorithms, reverence for the status quo, a profound disconnect with reality, misogyny, and so on. Sounds familiar? Well, this was the Bollywood version of 바카라Hindu khatre mein hai바카라.
바카라Research has shown that the same folks,바카라 says Pal바카라referring to Rajput바카라s fans indulging in conspiracy theories about his death바카라바카라appeared in the anti-feminist movement online, the campaign to defame Aryan Khan, the Twitter campaign against the CJI, etc. This community has in turn been weaponised by politicians over time, and even though they are small, they are extremely vocal and act in coordination.바카라 The pro-BJP news channels, obsessing over their own motives, legitimised the SSRians further. Pal calls this drive a part of the 바카라structural factor바카라 that made the Rajput story explode. The murder narrative, he says, was also often pushed by 바카라people with political connections or ambitions바카라, such as Nilotpal Mrinal who, appearing on Republic TV and Times Now calling himself a 바카라family friend바카라 of Rajput바카라s, declared the movement바카라s political affiliation in a May 2021 tweet: 바카라SSRians with Narendra Modi.바카라
In this whole saga, which reduced a gifted actor to a hashtag, Mehta contemplates the real perpetrators. 바카라The denial [of Rajput바카라s mental health] was the most dangerous outcome,바카라 he says. 바카라Because you바카라re dissuading a person, who could be suffering from depression, from seeking dignified treatment. I바카라ve been through it myself. There was a phase during and after Simran. It affected me physically. Luckily, I sought medical help. In fact, stigmatising it leads to so many suicides. You go through so much pain just to live in denial. To deny yourself the chance to get treated is, I think, a crime.바카라
(This appeared in the print as 'Anatomy Of A Death')
