From importance of mental health to nepotism in Bollywood: Serious issues that Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide has brought to the fore

Sushant Singh Rajput's death by suicide on June 14 at his Bandra residence is still hard to digest by many. The actor, who started his journey on television with the hugely popular show Pavitra Rishta, was among those very few who had transitioned successfully from the small screen to the silver screen. His success story was stuff dreams are made of and gave hope to struggling artists not only in the industry but across the country. His tragic demise, hence, has deeply affected not only his loved ones, but also those for whom he was the light at the end of the tunnel. The loss has been felt so personally that it has brought several unaddressed issues to the fore - the ones which are generally brushed under the carpet. (BY: Gursimran Kaur)

Considering Sushant was an outsider with no godfather in the industry, his death has sparked a huge debate on nepotism all over again. Directly under its attack are producer and director Karan Johar (who is known for launching star kids like Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan), producer Aditya Chopra and Bollywood superstar Salman Khan among others. It is common place to see hashtags #JusticeForSushant #SushantNoMore #BoycottKaranJohar trending frequently on Twitter. Many in the industry have also spoken openly about outsiders not getting their due in Bollywood. Even Sushant's old videos are being played, wherein he had once shared his take on the issue, "Nepotism is there, it’s everywhere, not just in Bollywood. You can’t do anything about it. Nepotism can co-exist and nothing would happen but at the same time, if you deliberately don’t allow the right talent to come up, then there is a problem. Then the whole structure of the industry would collapse one day. But till then, it’s fine." Post his demise, a criminal complaint has been filed against Karan Johar, Aditya Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sajid Nadiadwala, actor Salman Khan and Ekta Kapoor for not casting the actor. (Photo: Instagram)

Post Sushant's demise, there has been an outrage on social media against Bollywood camps which seclude or boycott an actor not belonging to the industry. Even though Raveena Tandon is hugely successful, she came out in the open after Sushant's death and talked about the existence of camps in Bollywood. She wrote, "Mean girl gang of the industry. Camps do exist. Made fun of, bn removed from films by Heroes, their girlfriends, Journo chamchas & their career destroying fake media stories.Sometimes careers are destroyed.U struggle to keep afloat. fight back. Some survive Some Dont.#oldwoundsrevisited." In fact, even Koena Mitra recently revealed how unwelcome the newbies outside the industry are. Few videos of Sushant Singh Rajput surfaced where he had admitted that he was never invited to parties or weddings, and only had a few friends. Several social media users have now unfollowed the likes of Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt to show their angst against the bigwigs.

Reportedly, Sushant was suffering from clinical depression for the past six months. His suicide has brought focus back on mental health and its addressal. While Deepika Padukone was the first to speak up openly about her struggle with depression, the talk around it since then has largely been fragmented. This time around, however, seeing a successful star take away his life has shook everyone. Many celebrities have now opened up about their battle with depression and the need for its treatment. Some of the names include Navya's Somya Seth, Bigg Boss fame Vikas Gupta, Shamita Shetty, Ronit Roy and American-Indian actress Deepti Naval.

There are several celebrities, including Arjun Bijlani, Karan Patel, Aamna Sharif and Arti Singh, who have shared the importance of reaching out to the ones you trust when feeling low. Some TV celebs in the past have also spoken about who they have fought with mental health issues by taking it out. Several of them have opened up about their struggles with life and how they have overcome it to give hope to others.

Sushant Singh Rajput's demise also led to extreme social media trolling of those who users believed were to be blamed for the act including the actor's former or rumoured girlfriends. They were held responsible and accused of insensitivity for not speaking up. While actress Sonam Kapoor and Taarak Mehta's Munmun Dutta tried to stop others from bullying the girls, they, too, were trolled in return. It was Kriti Sanon who finally shut them all by writing an elaborate post about Real Vs Fake world. She shared, "It's strange that the otherwise trolling, gossiping world suddenly wakes up to your niceness and positive side once you are gone. Social media is the FAKEST, most toxic place... and if you haven't posted RIP or said something publicly, you are considered not to be grieving, when in reality, those are the people grieving for REAL. It seems Social Media is the new "Real" world... and the Real world has become "Fake." Actor Karan Patel also asked his followers to know the distinction between real friends and social media followers as Sushant had millions of latter but none who he could actually turn to.

Detrimental to the health of actors, suspicion and speculations coming from blind articles (news story wherein the details of the matter are reported while the identities of the people involved are not revealed) has been opposed by many after Sushant's passing away. While Sonam Kapoor had endorsed the view earlier, Kriti Sanon is the latest to demand a ban on them. She wrote, "Blind Items should be ILLEGAL, should be banned! They should come under Mental Harassment! So either have proof and some f***ing guts to write the names or don’t write it at all! You write “hear-say” and call it journalism while you have no idea how badly that can affect someone’s mind, their family, their life. Little Birdie is usually not right."