Like a shooting star he dashed into the orbit of the earth stunning all with his brilliance.
Sushant Singh Rajput was not confined to or defined by his identity as an actor. His life spread beyond the 70mm and celebrated the mystery of life. His ‘bucket list’ had 50 dreams lined-up, which included dabbling with Quantum Physics, visiting the Moon, learning to fly a plane, train for Iron Man Triathlon, play tennis with a champ, space training at NASA and even discussing policies with the PM of India… He devoured the philosophy of Sartre and Nietzsche, wove tears into poems, strummed the guitar, was ambidextrous and could mirror write as well – a feat Leonardo da Vinci was known to possess. Perhaps, unconversant with the guile of glamour, he cut short his star trek to move onto a better world. As we mourn his demise, we rerun his quotes from his Filmfare interviews…
November 18, 2015
“Some said wow! Some said what! When we put ourselves in this situation where we can generate this kind of polarised feeling, we evolve as artistes.”
“If you draw the line between what people want and what you want to do, then nothing can stop you.”
“As we grow we start confusing things. I call it analysis by paralysis. We analyse too much and paralyse ourselves. We worry too much about the fate of the film.”
“I've also learnt that one should not dwell in the past or in the future. The now is what matters.”
“We crib about the discrimination we faced under the British rule. But we Indians are the biggest hypocrites in the world. The discrimination we show towards our fellow Indians is something else.”
He (Mahendra Singh Dhoni) likes winning; it doesn’t mean that he’s obsessed with it. Even if he has a match two days down the line, he’ll be at ease chatting with you. He lives in the now. And more than being a good cricketer he’s a good human being.”
The first time I did theatre was in college. I realised how powerful this form of communication could be. At 18, I could make a crowd of 500 strangers laugh and cry. That was a liberating feeling. But still, I cannot communicate with people I'm not comfortable with.”
We are conditioned about concepts of right and wrong. Actually, there’s nothing right or wrong. Our definition of morality has been created over the years to create a balance in society. We believe what we want to believe about ourselves and others.”
“Today, even though I love my penthouse, my Range Rover, I cherish those days when I lived with six guys eating khichdi everyday.”
“I love failure. It might sound unreal but I enjoy it. I crave it. But if there is one thing that I don't want is to be mediocre.”
“From performing as a background dancer at the Filmfare Awards to featuring on the cover... who said dreams don't come true?”
“I don’t think much about the future because I don’t live there.”
I’d try to be damn excited about living, setting goals and having fun. It would be addictive and seductive but without meaning.”
“I have reached a neutral space in my life where I neither go ecstatic with joy nor depressed with sadness. I don’t go through those extreme states.”
The loss of my mother... (in 2002) No matter what I do or achieve... this sense of loss will never go away. It taught me not to get attached to material achievements.”
October 19, 2016
My thoughts tend to run away from me. I realised quite early that by the time I articulate my thoughts into words, I’m onto another thought. And what comes out isn’t what I thought of exactly.”
“I don’t need to prove anything to others. Nor do I want to have the biggest bank balance in showbiz. What I want to keep on doing is to follow my passion. I want everyone to be rich and successful to understand that there is something else beyond that.”
“I want to freewheel, to fly without a compass, not to prove a point to anyone else but for my own fulfilment.”
We’re reaching out to the aspirations of millions of dreamers, telling them that no matter what your social status in life is, no matter where you come from, all you need is to believe in your dreams day in and day out. And somehow, miraculously, they'll all come true.”
There’s this prejudice that TV actors are way saturated. That kind of affected my choices and set me towards films, towards roles, which weren’t totally mainstream.”
“For me the opposite of happiness isn’t sadness but boredom. If you’re excited about doing something then you’re happy.”
Looking back, when we were kids, we would always finish our tiffin in like five minutes because we wanted to play through the rest of the recess. That’s what I want to do. I want to finish doing everyday stuff and rush back to the shooting floor. It has to be as exciting for me as playtime. Otherwise where’s the fun?”
October 19, 2016
Shekhar Kapur’s Paani took 10 months of my life. I was totally dedicated towards the project. I’d have extensive discussions about the film, about the role with Shekhar. I was internalising his vision. It didn’t take off is another matter but that doesn’t mean I was sitting idle. And I know that nothing goes waste. I count it as learning experience. He has an extraordinary sense of cinema so interacting with him was like doing a four-year acting course at Lee Strasberg.”
“Everything you know changes one morning; that two people who are close sometimes grow apart. It’s sad but there’s nothing you can do about it.”
June 8, 2017
Love is the most illogical thing in the whole f**^^% world. Falling in love is something for which you may want to find a reason, it’s because of this, it’s because of that. But nothing makes sense. Either you’re in love or you’re not in love. And it can happen for no apparent reason. It’s the most illogical thing, yet it’s the most real. You realise it only after you’ve fallen in love.”
“If I’m with people, I enjoy it. But if I'm alone I also enjoy that. I'm not lonely. There’s no vacuum in my life. I do share things with my sisters. My elder sister is like my mother.”
“Any kind of positive feedback, validation and acknowledgement is always good. So if I get an award, I’ll naturally feel good. But at the same time you have to understand that it’s as true as it’s not. For instance, I may not be thinking of chocolates. But if you offer them, I’ll take it saying thank you because I love chocolates. But if you don’t do that, I’ll probably not miss having a chocolate.”
I’ve always been confident about my work. But now when I sound confident it comes across as arrogance.”
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