Manoj Bajpayee opens up on late Sushant Singh Rajput; “I always told him to keep thick skin, nahi toh...' (original) (raw)

The entire country went into shock when actor Sushant Singh Rajput died by suicide in 2020. Sushant, who had successfully transitioned from TV to movies, was known for projects like Kedarnath, Kai Po Che!, PK and many others. However, his life was tragically cut short by his death, allegedly due to mental health issues and depression.

Recently, Manoj Bajpayee, who shared the screen with him in Sonchiriya, opened up on the late actor and recalled his conversations with him. (Trigger warning: talk of death/suicide ahead)
He said, "As far as the industry is concerned, we used to have chats about the industry and its politics. I always told him to keep thick skin nahi toh yeh jaan maar degi tumhari. I had thick skin because I had faced so many rejections. It was a part of my life but a lot of my friends didn’t have that thick skin. They couldn’t face rejections like I did."

Talking about the late actor's personality, he added, “He was a moody guy, and so am I. The sets of Sonchiriya had me, Ashutosh Rana, Ranvir Shorey and Sushant. We all had our off days. Just before the pandemic, when I went out to shoot, he had called me and said, ‘Manoj bhai, I really crave the mutton you cook so next time when you make it, please invite me over."
He further said, “Nobody knows what happened to him. All of us are only presuming and guessing things. I have worked with him, and I can say he wasn’t a mad guy. He was fairly well-versed in too many things. He was a voracious reader. I found him reading all the time, both on the set and off the set."
He also added, “He had great knowledge about quantum physics. He used to talk to me about spiritualism and compare it with quantum physics. He was a fantastic mind. I would not like to come to any conclusion because I really don’t know what happened to him. Even the CBI is yet to come to a conclusion."
“I must tell you that his death news hit me so badly that I was sad for three months as if I had known him so personally and closely."
Over the past months, the late actor was in the news once again after his Bandra apartment, where he took his last breath, was put up for rent. The home remained vacant for almost three years until actress Adah Sharma decided to move in.

In an exclusive interview with ETimes, the actress who is currently gearing up for her next show, 'Reeta Sanyal', opened up about moving into the late actor's home and addressed whether she is growing tired of being asked about living in a house that once belonged to Sushant. "I try to give boring answers so that it doesn’t make headlines," she said and added, "So I use words like ‘nice,’ ‘good,’ ‘energy,’ ‘positive,’ etc."
Confessing her true feelings about constantly being faced with the same question. She said, "I feel so bad that someone who contributed so much to the industry, was so talented, and was such a nice human being, should be remembered for the work he has done, not for a headline that me or anyone else is making about him. The headline should be his work, his performances, and people should go and watch his past interviews."