Saif Ali Khan slams Bollywood's hypocrisy after Sushant Rajput's death
What's the story
Sushant Singh Rajput's tragic death has triggered emotional reactions from many in the film fraternity, with some blaming the industry itself for the unfortunate loss.
Now, actor Saif Ali Khan has said that the sudden outpouring of love from Rajput's former colleagues indeed reveals the industry's hypocrisy, adding that introspection would be more appropriate at this time.
Here's more on what he said.
Interview
'Some people are trying to gain mileage from a tragedy'
Terming Rajput's demise as "awful," Saif, in an interaction with The Times of India, said that a lot of people are trying to "gain mileage" from the tragedy.
"There are so many people who have made comments so quickly. And it just seems to me that people are somewhere gaining some mileage from this poor fellow's tragedy... it's just embarrassing," he told the publication.
Statement
Silence or introspection would be more appropriate: Saif
Saif opined that choosing to remain silent or to introspect would be more appropriate in light of the tragedy.
"Maybe a day of silence or introspection would be a little more becoming than this outpouring of love - an outpouring of love from people who obviously didn't care about him (Rajput) and people who famously do not care about anybody else," he said.
Details
'To pretend to care is the ultimate hypocrisy'
Saif said that to pretend to care is the "ultimate hypocrisy".
"I think that's an insult to the dead... It's an insult to the soul that's gone," he added.
He further said that at this point, one should "not try and come across as the most politically astute or the kindest or the wisest or something or the other."
Quote
'People write lines on Twitter but don't actually care'
"We live in an age where people write 10 lines for you on Twitter and will walk past you on the street, won't even touch you or shake your hand...You get wished for your birthday, but people don't actually call you," Saif added.
Details
He said fellow celebrities should stop exploiting Rajput's name
Notably, many fellow celebrities, including director Shekhar Kapur and actor Kangana Ranaut said that the industry bigwigs were unfair to Rajput.
Reacting to this, Saif said he disagreed with these comments, saying, "People are failing people constantly. Everyone talking about him, even those saying who failed you or didn't fail you is, I think, somewhat exploiting his name."
Quote
'It's sad that film people cannot think beyond films'
Saif went on to add that it's sad that people in the industry cannot think beyond films.
"We will all assume that this terrible thing happened to him because of his films. There is more to life. Maybe he was upset about other things in his life. Maybe it was a personal reason. Maybe it's nothing to do with films," he said.
Demise
Rajput died by suicide on Sunday
To recall, Rajput, the star of films such as M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and Chhichhore, was found dead at his apartment in Bandra on Sunday. He had been reportedly battling depression for the past few months.
His last rites were held on Monday in the presence of his family members and some of his friends and former co-stars from the industry.
Debate
The nepotism debate has once again come to the fore
Rajput's sudden demise has once again triggered discussions about survival in the movie business. Many even alleged that he had lost a number of his movies to other stars in the past six months.
Some also blamed prominent figures for supporting the star kids and ignoring "outsiders" like Rajput, while others asked why nobody from the industry came forward to help the late actor.