It’s been almost four years since actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, but his family, fans and friends from the industry still haven’t come to terms with the loss. Actor Manoj Bajpayee says that Rajput, who allegedly died by suicide in June 2020, “would get troubled with the blind articles” that were written about him. In fact, he advised the actor to not take them seriously.

“Bahut zyada vulnerable tha woh uss maamle mein. He was a very good person and perhaps that’s why all the blind items would affect him so much. Achcha aadmi hi affect hota hai. He would often come to me and ask, ‘Sir, main kya karoon?’ Toh main usey kehta tha, ‘Yaar, tu yeh sab zyada seriously mat le’. I knew how to go about it because main bhugat chuka hoon aur abhi bhi bhugat raha hoon,” Bajpayee said in an interview with Siddharth Kannan. The actor added, “Sushant would say, ‘Sir, yeh aap hi kar sakte ho. Mai nahin kar sakta. Mai kaise karoon?’.”

Reminiscing about some fond memories he shared with his Sonchiriya (2019) co-star, who also hailed from his home state, Bihar, Bajpayee recalled his last conversation with Rajput: “Bahut hi sensitive aur intelligent tha Sushant. Aur main jo mutton bana ke khilata tha set pe uska deewana tha. He would say, ‘Manoj bhai, aapke ghar aake khana hai’. So I told him, ‘Jab banaunga, main tujhe bulaunga’. That was our last conversation. Aur theek uske 10 din baad he passed away.”