Sushant Singh Rajput's demise should have been grieved over and made people closer come together in grief. Instead it has become a social media circus that has permeated itself into the media, as well. News channels have made a mockery of reporting by intruding into his family's private space and sharing pictures of his dead body. When Karan Johar and Alia Bhatt tweeted and apologised for not being in touch with the actor in the past few months, it lent to another controversy. Sushant Singh Rajput: Dear Tweeple, Here’s Why Blaming Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, and the ‘Nepotism Gang’ for His Suicide is WRONG and Insulting to the Actor’s Stardom.

Suddenly, the conversation moved from the suicide to nepotism. People began to form opinions that Karan Johar's nepotism gang had driven the actor to suicide, as if Sushant hadn't made it here on his own backing. Trolls are sharing edited clips from Karan's Koffee With Karan show where actors are heard having a lesser opinion of the departed star.

Another clip that is going viral is with regards to Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor from an IIFA event. The accusation is that the duo, while compering the event, called Sushant, who had just made his debut in movies then, on stage and then insulted him. Fans are pointing out how uncomfortable Sushant was looking in his face due to the 'taunts' thrown by the senior stars.

Here's one such tweet:

It is exasperating to say this now, but it is an established fact that all the skits that happen during an award ceremony are rehearsed. When the comperes interact with other actors, they take permission from the stars first before pulling their legs. Shah Rukh Khan is known for the 'insult-driven jokes that he make on these shows, with occasional accomplices like Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor.

There are a couple of occasions when the jokes goes out of hand, like during one event, he poked fun of politician Amar Singh, and the latter's political party members held protest near SRK's house.

During the episode of Aap Ki Adalat in 2016, the superstar, while referring this controversy (and his then fallout with Aamir Khan), mentions that most of the jokes are rehearsed and done with the permission of the stars. On occasions like the ones with Amar Singh and Aamir, that didn't happen because in the first occasion, it was an impromptu joke and in the other, the star wasn't present there.

Watch The Episode Below (from 40 minute mark):

So was the episode with Sushant Singh Rajput a deliberate insult, a genuine instance of bullying? You can decide that by watching the whole sequence below instead of the edited clip that is going viral on social media. Watch from 12:30.

 

The above video is from the IIFA 2013, the same year when Sushant made his debut in Kai Po Che. This was a part of the gag where SRK and Shahid were pulling the legs of all newcomers in the industry, one of them being Sushant. As you can see in the whole video, Sushant was part of their 'ribbing' act. Later, Shahid calls choreographer Remo D'Souza to the stage and asks him to train Sushant in dancing, after he failed to match steps to their rendition of the "Manja" song.

The comperes then went on to rib other newcomers of that year, including Ayushmann Khurrana and Parineeti Chopra. Later, Sushant joined the duo, as they serenaded Parineeti while Ayushmann, who was hit by a bottle as part of the act earlier, sung "Paani Da Rang" from Vicky Donor. Need anymore proof that this was playful ribbing and not deliberate insulting?

So it is an insult to Sushant's spirit that he was feeling depressed because incidents like this were putting him down. Sushant has revealed on many times that he was a Shah Rukh Khan fan and had spoken about his reverence on quite a few occasions. In an interview to Hindustan Times in 2017, he had said, "I was a huge fan of Shah Rukh Khan. I remember watching Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (DDLJ) and thinking now here’s a cool dude. He is a great performer, but that’s not what impacted me most: Shah Rukh helped me sort out my confusion about who I should be. This was in the early ’90s and the economy was just opening up – we were seeing Coke cans for the first time, international brands were coming in, and I was fascinated…yet confused. I didn’t know whether to embrace the West or be loyal to our culture. At this point came DDLJ, I was in Class VI, and Raj showed me that it was cool to have a beer, but then he also waited for Simran’s dad’s approval. There was a balance. It was the perfect marriage of an aspiring India and an India trying to hold on to its culture."

SRK in his tweet condoling Sushant's demise said, "He loved me so much...I will miss him so much. His energy, enthusiasm and his full happy smile. May Allah bless his soul and my condolences to his near and dear ones. This is extremely sad....and so shocking!!"

Now that we have debunked this viral speculation, let's outrage over something that had to be outraged. But not at the cost of a beloved star's soul.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 16, 2020 06:03 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).