THE SUSHANT STORY IS SPREADING LIKE WILD FIRE

Ali Peter John

No astrologer, soothsayer or even the most acknowledged pundit of the Hindi film Industry could have imagined what is happening around after the tragic suicide (?)of Sushant Singh Rajput. There is the kind of eerie atmosphere of frustration and fear in every place and there is the needle of suspicion that is pointing out to groups and individuals and angry people are coming to their own conclusions before the police can come anywhere near reaching a conclusion after their investigations .

There is a great deal of unrest in Patna and almost all over Bihar.There has not been a single day when posters and effigies of Karan Johar, Salman Khan and the Bhatt brothers ,Mahesh and Mukesh are not being burnt by angry crowds. The people who are admirers of Sushant have been screaming for a boycott of the films of Ķaran Johar and Salman Khan. They are even planning to ban or stop the entry of Karan and Salman in any place in Bihar. There are political leaders who are playing their own games to take advantage of the incident.

The Union Law Minister Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad has visited Sushant's family in Patna and assured it of Justice being done to Sushant. Congress leader Nikhil Kumar has done his own bit by also by visiting the family and so has Chirag Paswan (he had made his debut in a Hindi film which flopped and he was not heard of again in films).Chirag has spoken to Mr.Uddhav Thackeray, The Chief Minister Of Maharashtra about the Sushant story. In Mumbai, the multi-talented actor Shekhar Suman who is originally from Patna has formed a forum called "Justice for Sushant Singh Rajput Forum" to see that pressure is put on the Government to take the case seriously and find out the truth behind Sushant's death. There are many other associations formed to boycott Salman and Karan. There are already two FIRs logged in Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

In the Meanwhile, there are clearly two factions in the industry. There is one which is relentlessly going after the stars who they feel very strongly are the cause of the pressure put on Sushant and this group has a very strong and vociferous spokesperson in Kangana Ranaut, who has been consistent in her attacks on nepotism. She is finding more and more supporters for her cause .

On the other side, there are attempts being made to defend the ones who are being targeted. There is a new series made by a film critic and journalist(?)called Komal Nahata which is called "Truth" which is supposed to be the truth as the journalist claims behind the suicide of Sushant .That the series has been made to protect the interests of Nahata's so called bosses (Aakas)in the industry is so very obvious.There is a video in which Sonam Kapoor makes a desperate attempt to protect the theory of nepotism in which she says she is proud to be a star kid as it is her

"karma " to be one. Her frustration is seen when she even uses the "f word"in her tweet. The most surprising tweet comes from Swara Bhaskar, the actress who was so much in the limelight six months ago when she went hamer and tongs against the Modi sarkar and spoke against it at meetings at Shaheen Baugh, JNU and other places and now speaks totally in favor of Karan Johar and others who are being targeted. There are some very strong voices asking for a CBI Inquiry into Sushant's death.

The show must go on, it is said and it is being proved again. The makers of Sushant's last film, "Dil Bechaara"are making all out efforts to release the film on an OTT platform on July 24. Is it a case of doing business when the time is really good for Business ?

In another three months,there will be elections in Bihar and I am not a politician or any kind of expert on politics, but if I know the dirty politicians of my beloved country, I can take any bets that Sushant will be a more talked about subject during the election campaigns than the problems of the migrants, the kisans and their roti kapada aur makaan .I don't have to take bets on this, every Indian will see it happening in Bihar

What is also disturbing is that old videos of the battle over nepotism and the MeToo movement are going viral as if to take revenge. And as I finish writing this piece, I am told about a volatile battle of words between Sonu Nigam and Divya Khosla Kumar, the wife of Bhushan Kumar of T-Series.

WHERE AND HOW WILL ALL THIS MUCK AND ? YEH AAG KAB BUJHEGI ?
KON JAWAAB DEGA ?