WHY DOES SOMEONE WHO LIFE GIVES ALL THE REASONS TO CELEBRATE SUDDENLY HATE LIFE SO MUCH THAT HE(OR SHE)PUTS AN END TO HIS(OR HER)OWN LIFE ?

Ali Peter John

Sometimes the journey between life and death is just a journey from the comfort of a bed to a rope or a bedsheet and a ceiling fan, but there has to be a long and tormenting travel through travails only the one taking that  trip knows and not even god or the greatest psychiatrists can claim to know. Only the one who takes that ultimate step to  end the journey of life knows. And the dead tell  no tales ...

To think of it ,Sushant had no problems with life. He was a trained engineer, he was a well-read young man, he had all the qualities to make it in any world, even in a world like the film industry where the competition is killing and where nepotism is still rampant inspite of some stars and others trying their best to deny it...

Sushant who came from the interiors of Bihar to  chase his dream to be an actor didn't take long to prove his talent. And within no time, he was playing leading roles in films like the biopic on" M.S.Dhoni", "Kai Po Chhe","P.K.",

"Kedarnath " and his last released film, "Chhichhore "and 'Drive "which  was released on Netflix. He had signed some  other films and was well on his way to big-time success, the kind young men like him could only dream of .

Then, what were  those cruel circumstances (and may be people)that drove and pushed him  to a dark wall from which there seemed to be no return. And even as Sushants body is going up in flames at  the Vile Parle crematorium,a place were  some of the greatest stars and film personalities have reached after their stay on this earth comes to an end, there are all kinds of questions being  asked by the hungry vultures of the media,by people within the industry,by  the common man and even some politicians who have found in Sushant's unexpected death a way to run away from the other more grim realities they are supposed to face and fight in the country.

How  did it happen ?Was he suffering from depression ?How long was  he in depression ? Was he under treatment and for how long ? Did  he have any enemies ?Did  he have many friends ?Did he have a girlfriend ? Was he insecure about his future ?Did he leaves a lot of money behind ?Are there any   suspicions and suspects in the case ? These are just some of the questions make you a lot of noise in the atmosphere which was so silent  before Sushants created an  alarming sensation and people, wild and not so wild men and women are finding their own answers to questions asked by themselves to satisfy themselves as it happens whenever there is a case of  suicide or attempted  or alleged suicide .

Suddenly, some human being become gods and talk about Sushants suicide as if they  were informed about  every step Sushant had taken before he ended his life. A shameless producer whose film Sushant had turned down went on to say that he knew that this (the suicide)was to come. How did  that  goddamn producer know so much  about how Sushants mind worked ? Was the frustrated producer a  reader of the minds of people ?

There has been a section of people who have been voicing their strong views about how Sushant was boycotted by some leading filmmakers and even by  the  stars of today which included some of the Khans. The industry will come to its own conclusions and then carry on as if nothing  had happened. The wild media will keep creating new story to raise their TRPs ,and continue screaming on their channels till they find another sensational story or continue screaming about the same old stories. But ,who  will think about a young man who has gone away in the prime of his youths, when he was only thirty four and had miles and miles to go before he could sleep, his old father, his six sisters his lady friend who is already being hounded by the media and all his admirers and fans ?

It has been a very dark time for the industry in many ways and because of the  deaths of Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Basu Chatterjee, Yogesh and Chiranjeevi Sarja the thirty nine year old actor of Telugu films. But this totally unexpected death of a multi-talented young man has  not only made the clouds look darker, but also rain as if the sky itself was mourning the death of a man so young and so full of life.

There may have been cases of  suicides before Guru Dutt,but his suicide continues to be one of the most talked about .The genius  of a filmmaker had reached the pinnacle of success with films like "Baazi "and "Pyaasa".But, he was so sensitive that he couldn't take the disaster that  his own  favourite film, "Kaagaz Ke Phool"was a resounding disaster even though it was a  better film than "Pyaasa "(opinions can differ).The shock was too much  to  take for him. He couldn't find the confidence to direct his next film and did not direct any film again.

And to add to his problems, he had emotional problems with his having what was called an affair with his heroine who he had discovered and his singer-wife. He couldn't deal with the situation he was  caught in and took to drinking heavily. He one  evening walked to the office of his mentor, Dev Anand and asked him to give him one more chance to direct a film for Navketan, Dev's banner. He was down with jaundice and Dev told him that he would certainly produced a film to be directed by him, but only if he got well and stopped drinking.

That night Guru Dutt was drinking with his writer, Abrar Alvi and kept calling his children, but could not get across to them. Alvi left and the next morning, Dev Anand was the  first to see Guru Dutt dead. He is supposed to have finished a bottle of scotch and consumed hundreds of sleeping tablets. His funeral was attended by the entire industry. Many Years later, his son Tarun Dutt died under similar circumstances. He  was a director who had made a film called "Bindiya Chamkegi "with Vinod Mehra and Rekha he looked exactly like his father, he acted in a film with Sarika. He had a problem over money and property matters with his uncle, Atma Ram, Guru Dutt's younger brother and he too  had an emotional problem and had taken to heavy drinking..

In the seventies there were two actors struggling to make it. One was Subhash Ghai and the other was a young man called Anand Soin. Ghai was still struggling while Anand was signed by all the leading filmmakers of the time. But none of the films Anand signed went on the floors and he was not heard of again. There were stories about his committing suicide, but the stories were not confirmed.

Protima Bedi was the first wife of Kabir Bedi. She was a renowned classical dancer and was together with Kabir known for bringing in the hippie culture to India. She shot to fame when she streaked at Flora Fountain. She had turned religious and she one day walked into the mountains and never came back.Her  remains were found some months later.

Anupam Kher and another actor started their acting career together. Anupam became a star and the body of the other actor was found swept ashore some where near the Juhu Beach.

Jyoti Bakshi was the daughter of a well-known editor. She made her debut in "Bullet" with Dev Anand as her hero. She was next seen in "Johnny I Love You " with Sanjay Dutt she didn't find any work after these two films and she was found as a high -class  prostitute in  five star hotels in Delhi .She came back to Bombay as an alcoholic  and was found walking the streets of Versova and standing outside small hotels and asking people for money. She had got married to a struggling actor who was also a director, but the marriage didn't last. Towards the end, she was living in a one bedroom flat which belonged to her mother who later died of alcoholism. Jyoti herself was found dead in her flat after her body had decomposed.

Varsha Bhosle the only daughter of Asha Bhosle was a leading journalist and a very good writer in English, but she had a personality complex and tried attempting suicide more than once and finally succeeded when her mother was not at home one day.

Jiah Khan was the daughter of the  one-time actress, Rabia Amin. She lived in London but came to Bombay to  act in films. She got her dream break when she was cast with Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Varmas "Nishabd ".She was said to be having an affair with Suraj Pancholi,the son of Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab. She was found hanging by her ceiling fan one day. There are several stories about her suicide and her mother is still said to be fighting a court battle to see  that the culprits behind her daughters suicide are booked and punished.

There are some cases which can not be called suicides, but they are as good or very bad as suicides. Like the classic case of Meena Kumari who faced tough times and had taken to drinking at a very early age and then literally drank herself to death at the age of  forty five. And how can one forget the tragic story of Praveen Babi ? She was of a royal family and a M.A.in English Literature who walked into Hindi films and to fame. Her fame however went all  haywire because of her problems of the heart and men taking advantage of her. When she felt betrayed and cheated, she took the path to self-destruction. Towards the end of her career, the beauty who had once adorned the cover of "Time"magazine was found walking in dirty clothes and rubber slippers in the streets of Juhu where she once ruled. Her body was found in a highly decomposed state in her apartment

And now we have the very cruel and sad  case of Sushant Singh Rajput whose story of suicide grows more and more murky with time and it is  only two days since the ghastly incident shook up the industry, the country and even the country's dear prime minister who is being criticized by a  number of enlightened people because of his not making any comment or statement about the problems of the migrants and has taken very little time to react to Sushants suicide

SO, HOW DO WE AS HUMAN BEING SOLVE THIS VERY HUMAN PROBLEM ?

WILL WE FIND SOLUTIONS WHICH ARE MORE PRACTICAL THAN JUST SOME THEORIES PREACHED AND PRACTICED BY MEN AND WOMEN SITTING IN  THEIR IVORY TOWERS AND HAVE NO EXPERIENCE OR  KNOWLEDGE OF  HOW THE MINDS OF PEOPLE WORK UNDER DIFFERENT KINDS OF PRESSURES AND CIRCUMSTANCES CREATED BY  MEN AND THE CIRCUMSTANCES AROUND THEM. WILL THE DESPERATELY NEEDED SOLUTIONS BE FOUND ? OR HOW MANY MORE SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUTS WILL HAVE TO HANG THEMSELVES TO  DEATH TO  AWAKEN THE PEOPLE WHO NEED TO BE AWAKENED IF THIS ALARMING AILMENT OF THE MINDS HAS TO  STOP.