Sushant Singh Rajput

Sushant Singh Rajput (21 January 1986 – 14 June 2020) was an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema.

His family moved to Delhi following his mother's death in 2002 where Rajput completed his schooling for intermediate studies in Kulachi Hansraj Model School.

Rajput was reportedly an avid reader who was deeply interested in astrophysics and won the National Olympiad in Physics.

He secured admission in the Delhi College of Engineering (later renamed Delhi Technological University) to pursue a Bachelor of Engineering degree in mechanical engineering.

According to Rajput, he did not have any interest in engineering but his family gave him no option which left him dissatisfied.

He instead wanted to become an astronaut and later an air force pilot but was also interested in Bollywood, being a fan of Shah Rukh Khan.

During his course at the Delhi College of Engineering, Rajput enrolled himself in Shiamak Davar's dance classes.

Soon afterward, he also began attending acting classes under the theatre director Barry John.

Rajput later stated that he found the experience to be liberating and wanted to continue doing it forever.

He featured as a background dancer in the Dhoom Again song of Dhoom 2 and in Aishwarya Rai's performance at the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

In 2006, he dropped out of his engineering course during his fourth year to begin a career in arts and performance.

He moved to Mumbai, took up odd jobs and small roles alongside working in the theatre industry.

Rajput eventually joined Nadira Babbar's theatre group called the Ekjute in which he remained for two and a half years.

He was spotted by a casting team of Balaji Telefilms while he was working at the Prithvi Theatre.

He moved on to feature in Hindi television serials, his debut show was the romantic drama Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil (2008), followed by the lead role in the soap opera Pavitra Rishta (2009–2011).

Rajput was subsequently called for an audition and cast as a second lead in the television series Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil in 2008. He had secured the role of Preet Singh Juneja, the stepbrother of the lead named Harshad Chopda and entered the show in its seventh episode.

The character was killed early in the show, but due to popularity among viewers was brought back in the series finale as a spirit looking on as his family celebrated coming out of difficult times.

The performance had made an impression on the producer Ekta Kapoor who vouched for him to be cast as the lead in another series Pavitra Rishta, reportedly against the wishes of the hosting channel, Zee TV.

In Pavitra Rishta, Rajput was cast as Manav Deshmukh who was an "ideal son and husband" and co-starred along with Ankita Lokhande.

The role was reportedly a breakthrough for him and for which he won various television awards, including his first award for best actor in the Indian Television Academy Awards 2010.

He also won three major television awards in the categories of best male actor and most popular actor.

In 2010, he joined the dance reality show Zara Nachke Dikha in its second season as part of the Mast Kalandar Boys team.

He made his film debut with the film adaptation Kai Po Che! (2013) which became a critical and commercial success.

He followed up with his starring roles as a tourist guide in the romantic comedy Shuddh Desi Romance (2013) and the titular detective in the mystery film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015).

Rajput's highest-grossing releases came with a supporting role in the satire PK (2014), and from the title role in the sports biopic of Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

For his performance in the latter, he received his first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.

He starred in a number of commercially successful Hindi films such as M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016), Kedarnath (2018) and Chhichhore (2019).

He received a Screen Award and was nominated for the Filmfare Awards on three occasions.

He appeared on Forbes India Celebrity 100 list twice since 2017.

Rajput began his acting career after dropping out of his engineering course at the Delhi College of Engineering and entering the theatre industry in Mumbai.

The Narcotics Control Bureau claimed Rajput had been using various people to obtain drugs since 2018 and filed abetment charges against them.

Abetment to suicide charges were filed against his former girlfriend, while the Supreme Court refused to quash a case against his sister Priyanka which alleged she had supplied him psychotropic anti-depressants without proper medical consultation, using a forged prescription.

Rajput died by suicide at his home in Bandra, Mumbai, in June 2020, aged 34.

Various controversies surrounded his death.

His last film, Dil Bechara (2020), was released posthumously on the streaming platform Hotstar.

Sushant Singh Rajput was born in Patna in the state of Bihar to Krishna Kumar Singh and Usha Singh.

His father is a retired technical officer and worked at Bihar State Handloom Corporation in Patna.

He was the youngest of five siblings and had the nickname Gulshan.

One of his four sisters Mitu Singh was a state-level cricket player.

He attended the St. Karen's High School in Patna.