Everybody's talking about mental health after the untimely demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput

The entire nation is grieving the sad and shocking demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput. A 34 year old, talented actor commits suicide. The importances of mental health, especially in these testing times of COVID - 19, has resurfaced. But ironically, with this we also witnessed some ruthless news channels, seizing this as an opportunity to increase their TRP with their content stooping lower than their standards and few other so called 'trollers of the web' went after the Bollywood celebrities who weren't prompt to comment on this. There were theories of this being a murder, an act of illuminati, a case of honour killing, in fact some even managed to get religion in between. If this was not enough the gruesome image of Sushant Singh Rajput's dead-body was leaked on Watsapp and circulated by everyone. We talk about mental health and then leave no stone unturned to disturb it.

Sushant Singh Rajput

Suddenly everyone's an expert on mental health, busy sending, "I am there for you" kind of Watsapp messages, or, "DM me if you feel the need to talk" kind of instagram posts, or "Just wanted to let you know that you are awesome" kind of youtube videos. Let's face it, what do you think is really going to happen? Few days later if there is no development on this case, people will move on with their lives, with posting their throwback travel photos, TikTok videos or quarantine cooking. You want to reach out to people and help? Pick-up the phone and talk to them, not just today, but more frequently, because a tick-mark post on instagram is definitely not helping anyone. 

What went on in the young actors head, is something that went with him. I guess we will never know the depth of his reality. What we do know is that he gave us some unforgettable films through which he will live forever - Ishaan from Kai Po Che, Raghu from Shuddh Desi Romance, Byomkesh from Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!, Mahi from M.S. Dhoni - The Untold Story, Shiv from Raabta, Mansoor from Kedarnath, Lakhna from Sonchiriya and Anni from Chhichhore. 

If you are shocked, if you are disheartened, if you are disturbed, then don't go around with your conspiracy theories, don't surf the net to find more about his death, just remember how he lived, watch his films, listen to his songs, know about his philanthropy work and support his causes.

Sushant Singh Rajput had donated 1.25 crores to the CM of Nagaland when it was hit by massive floods.

It is not a secret that Sushant was a huge Shah Rukh Khan fan. There were many similarities as well, like both of them had started off from television, both of them had lost their mothers young and both of them had the chocolate boy charm in reality. Somewhere Sushant's acting and dancing reflected his love for SRK, but it was never an annoying resemblance, it was always a creative improvisation. He was so relatable in Kai Po Che, so enigmatic in Detective Byomkesh Bakshay! and so unrecognisably consumed by his characters in M.S. Dhoni and Sonchiriya. I've listed some of my most favourite songs from his films that I find most soothing.

Meethi Boliyan - Kai Po Che

Gulabi - Shuddh Desi Romance

Chaar Kadam - PK

Besabriyaan - M.S.Dhoni - The Untold Story

Ik Vaari Aa - Raabta

Jaan Nisaar - Kedarnath

Ruan Ruan - Sonchiriya

Khairiyat - Chhichhore

Sushant Singh Rajput with Shah Rukh Khan

Sushant had cleared as many as 11 engineering exams one of them being that for the Indian School of Mines. He was pursuing Mechanical Engineering before he dropped out to take-up acting as a serious career path. He also tried to help young students through his programmes like Sushant4Education. Last year he tweeted about his 50 dreams that he wanted to accomplish and what's surprising is that none of them are about Bollywood or movies, they are all either about helping children, or nature or society, about traveling, about learning, basically about all those things that at some point in time, both you and I have dreamed of.

1. Learn how to fly a plane

2 Train for Iron Man Triathlon

3. Play a cricket match left-handed

4. Learn Morse Code

5. Help kids learn about Space

6. Play tennis with a champion

7. Do a four clap push-up

8. Chart trajectories of Moon, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn for a week

9. Dive in blue-hole

10. Perform the double-slit experiment

11. Plant 1000 trees

12. Spend an evening in my Delhi College of Engineering hostel

13. Send 100 kids for workshops in ISRO/ NASA

14. Meditate in Kailash

15. Play Poker with a Champ

16. Write a book

17. Visit CERN

18. Paint aurora borealis

19. Attend another NASA workshop

20. 6 pack abs in 6 months

21. Swim in Cenotes

22. Teaching coding to visually impaired

23. Spend a week in a jungle

24. Understand Vedic astrology

25. Disneyland

26. Visit LIGO

27. Raise a horse

28. Learn at least 10 dance forms

29. Work for free education

30. Explore Andromeda with a powerful telescope

31. Learn Kriya Yoga

32. Visit Antartica

33. Help train women in self defence

34. Shoot an active Volcano

35. Learn how to farm

36. Teach dance to kids

37. Be an ambidextrous archer

38. Finish reading the entire Resnick - Halliday Physics Book

39. Understand Polynesian astronomy

40. Learn Guitar chords of my favourite 50 songs

41. Play Chess with a champion

42. Own a Lamborghini

43. Visit St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna

44. Perform experiments in Cymatics

45. Help prepare students for India Defence Forces

46. Make a documentary on Swami Vivekananda

47. Learn to surf

48. Work in AI & exponential technologies

49. Lean capoeira

50. Travel through Europe in train

Sushant's 50 Dreams Wishlist

There are many dreams from this list that he had accomplished. Rest will be nothing but numbers now. Because the opportunity to right, wrong, learn, improvise and live has been snatched. There is no future, good, bad, ugly, nada. 

P.S - This is not how it should end. Because in the end, ending is all that matters. May you find your peace Sushant. You will continue to live through your work here.