Shreya Mukherjee (HINDUSTAN TIMES; August 3, 2020)

Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has stirred up a number of conversations surrounding nepotism and favouritism in the film industry. Actor Swastika Mukherjee is hopeful that things will change now, but she feels that some people are going overboard and have forgotten about Rajput’s grieving family.

“Right now, the situation is such that one runs the risk of being misinterpreted. But I’m still trying to understand, where are these paranormal conversations, assumptions and presumptions coming from?” she says.

Insisting that nepotism exists in every industry, Mukherjee, 39, asks, “Why does the hammer always fall on the entertainment industry? Why is our profession looked at from a different perspective, especially female actors. Questions are being raised about our character and how we lead our lives.”

While celebrities are often expected to have an opinion on everything being debated upon, Mukherjee believes that right now, everyone wants to share their views but it’s to settle their personal score. “I don’t like agenda-driven conversations. Why do I want to sell my points of view based on somebody’s demise?” asks the actor, adding that much like others, she also thought the news of Rajput’s death was fake.

She sounds disturbed as she shares, “After I got the news, I switched off my phone. It was difficult. I lost my father (actor Santu Mukherjee) in March and then Sushant. I was confused about what’s hurting me more. Memories of shooting Dil Bechara with Sushant and my father being excited about the film came rushing back. And now, both of them aren’t here when the film has actually released.”
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‘SUSHANT HAD BIPOLAR DISORDER’
Late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s therapist, Susan Moffat Walker, broke her silence on the actor’s condition and in a statement to Mojo Story , she said, “Sushant was suffering from bipolar disorder and had bouts of depression and hypomania. Rhea was his strongest support…” Reacting to Walker’s statement, while Rajput’s sister Shweta Singh Kirti tweeted, “It is outright illegal”, her husband Vishal Kirti, too, wrote a long blog post. “...Mental health information is protected by the law of the land. Disclosing this information is not only unethical but also illegal...” He questioned Walker’s diagnosis of Rajput’s condition and the part of her statement where she says that his treatment was sought by Rhea Chakraborty (girlfriend) and not Rajput himself.