It has been over two months since beloved actor Sushant Singh Rajput passed away, and it is so saddening to see the ugly controversy surrounding his tragic death. Sushant was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Mumbai apartment, but the authorities are now investigating whether it was a murder.
While I hope Sushant gets justice and the truth prevails, one thing that really irked me was the media and fans saying “we don’t believe that someone as intelligent and lively as Sushant could have ever been depressed!” The lowest point was when Arnab Goswami flashed old footage of Sushant smiling on the screen and yelled “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE THE FACE OF A MAN WHO WAS DEPRESSED?”
Also Read: I Can’t Believe The ‘Depression’ Narrative: Ankita Lokhande Opens Up About Sushant’s Death
First things first, Arnab isn’t qualified to diagnose a mental illness, and neither are the rest of us–only a mental health professional can. And his medical records state that he was undergoing treatment for depression and bipolar disorder. So then why are we more willing to believe that Rhea Chakraborty was ‘forcefully drugging him’ and did ‘black magic on him’ than the fact that he could have been suffering from a mental illness?
Well, let’s start with some facts–43% of Indians are suffering from depression. That’s almost half our population! This means that there’s a high probability that so many people in your life are already depressed, and you probably don’t even know it. And you know why? Because there’s no such thing as a ‘depression look’. It’s not a fashion trend. Depressed people don’t walk around with tear-stained faces, dark circles and a glass of alcohol as an accessory. They look like you and me–they can seem happy, creative, ambitious, lively, intelligent–and they can still be depressed.
Actor Swara Bhasker seems to be one of the few people who agrees. Recently, when veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah called the coverage of Sushant’s death ‘sickening’, Swara was in complete agreement with him. She told a news publication, “I absolutely agree with Naseer Sir. In fact, I have been saying this from many days. You can see it on my social media, that it’s absolutely sickening to see how social media and many media houses have started their conspiracy theories and have been fanning lies to the public.”
She also went on to question why it was so hard for people to believe that Sushant could have been depressed. “Why is it so difficult for people to accept that he may have been depressed? I read an article where someone said that he didn’t look depressed, what theory is that? How can someone ‘look’ it?” She added, “Just because someone is famous, doesn’t mean things can’t be wrong. We as a society need to give more importance to mental health.”
Presently, the CBI seems to have taken over the investigation in Sushant’s death case. While the Mumbai Police found that the actor was undergoing treatment for bipolar disorder, his family refused to believe it and said they had no idea about it. Meanwhile, Sushant’s family has accused his girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty of abetment to his suicide.
How about we honour Sushant’s memory by letting the authorities do their work instead of coming up with conspiracy theories of our own?
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