Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut was a lone voice crying ‘murder’ after Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his apartment. Now she will have company.
No less than BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, the ayatollah of conspiracy theories — from Sunanda Pushkar Tharoor, to Sridevi — has joined her in speculating about Rajput’s death.
Two days after Kangana Ranaut told Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami that there is a ‘suicide gang’ in Bollywood, Subramanian Swamy tweeted promising a juicy interview offering his theories on Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
Tomorrow I will tape an interview with Priya Sahgal on News X on the mysterious sudden unnatural deaths of Sushant Ranjit, Sridevi and Sunanda Pushkar. It will be first aired on News X on Wednesday.
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) July 20, 2020
Indians are lapping it all up, perhap because of a wee bit of collective guilt. Not just Bollywood’s campy stars, they too, had let Sushant Singh Rajput down.
After all, beyond all the chatter about nepotism, it is also the audience who chose not to watch his films like Sonchiriya, despite the actor’s appeal and his contribution to good cinema. The film, which released on 1 March 2019, clashed with Laxman Utekar’s romantic comedy Luka Chuppi, starring Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Sanon. And it’s very clear which movie more people went to watch.
So it helps ease the guilt to believe in murder theories. Which is why when Arizona-based paranormal peddler Steve Huff released a YouTube video of his ‘conversation’ with Rajput’s spirit, it racked up more than five million views.
Kangana Ranaut has been consistently maintaining that Sushant’s death was a planned murder, and has taken it upon herself to ‘continue’ his battle — by slinging mud left, right and centre, sparing no one.
And with the help of Swamy’s legal expertise, she is bound to ‘win’ this battle.
Also read: Nepotistic privilege should be a matter of social shame. It holds India back
But what is this battle?
Kangana has always been self-serving, and even when it comes to Rajput’s death, she has no qualms taking a swipe at everyone. She recently called actresses like Swara Bhaskar, Taapsee Pannu ‘B-grade’ actresses, and hinted at their alliances with ‘big names’ in Bollywood.
While there is no denying that Bollywood indeed thrives on nepotism and power-games, baseless accusations and mud-slinging, however, ends up destroying Ranaut’s credibility and her ongoing.
Her statements are increasingly taking on the appearance of opportunism at the cost of someone’s death. With Swamy joining in, she has just created more ‘money-making’, publicity-gaining avenues that feed off Rajput’s death.
Also read: Why Bihar politicians are scrambling to get justice for late actor Sushant Singh Rajput
Ghosts calling
Indians love anything to do with ‘bhoot-pret’ and reincarnation, which explains why a video of Sridevi’s ‘reincarnated self’ (a look-alike baby) can garner lakhs of views.
In the case of Rajput’s death, the same spectacle was seen when Huff claimed to have spoken to the spirit of the late actor, and claimed to respond to questions about his death.
These ludicrous claims aside, what is astounding is the success of the first video, which made the ‘expert’ release a second video. We might soon have a whole Netflix series if this goes on.
Also read: Sonam Kapoor to Varun Dhawan: A crash course for Bollywood’s star kids on nepotism
Support for Kangana
Love her, hate her or dismiss her, Kangana Ranaut undeniably enjoys a lot of support. Fans have been cheering on her ‘battle of truth’ and tirade against nepotism, no matter how problematic her claims and arguments.
Yes, the world is made up of all kinds of colourful people. But the ‘supernatural’ fascination around Rajput’s death, along with Ranaut’s social media hullabaloo, only points to the fact that people seem to desperately need answers, especially when confronted with the fact that we may be all complicit in Rajput’s death.
The nepotism debate continues to rage and get bigger everyday — the latest is an ugly Twitter spat between actor Ranvir Shourey and director Anurag Kashyap. But ultimately, most people have capitalised on Rajput’s death, for a myriad of agendas, rather than to actually seek a change in Bollywood’s machinery.
Views are personal.