In many ways, Sushant Singh Rajput occupied a very unique space in the industry he belonged to. For one, he had several interests outside of his chosen profession, many of them of an academic bent. In two tribute posts shared after Mr Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai home on Sunday, references were made to the 34-year-old actor's scientific spirit. "He was a science buff," wrote Sushant Singh Rajput's Kai Po Che! and Kedarnath director Abhishek Kapoor, signing off his note with the words "stay interstellar." Priyanka Chopra revealed that she would miss the "conversations about astrophysics at sunrise" she had with Mr Rajput.
A short scroll through the actor's Instagram supports this. On social media, Sushant Singh Rajput was generally a man of few words; he reserved his eloquence and enthusiasm for some select subjects - among these was science. Astrophysics, to be specific. His Instagram bio reads - "Photon in a double slit." Mr Rajput spent a lot of his time looking to the stars; an engineering student before dropping out to act, he was erudite on matters of space and cosmos.
Here's a sample of the science-related posts Sushant Singh Rajput shared on Instagram. His captions are indication enough of the passion he felt.
As a bona fide science buff, Mr Rajput followed the 2019 Chandrayaan-2 moon mission closely:
Sushant Singh Rajput also sought out new skills and learnings. He spent part of the lockdown learning how to code, citing his interest in gaming:
Astrophysicist Dr Karan Jani shared a deeper glimpse in to the actor's engagement with science:
Sushant - seeker, actor pic.twitter.com/Ro1SqIQjKd
— Dr. Karan Jani (@AstroKPJ) June 14, 2020
As an actor, Sushant Singh Rajput brought the same passion with which he studied the stars to his performances in films like Chhichhore, Sonchiriya, Kedarnath, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! He was also well-known to TV audiences as the lead on the Balaji Telefilms production Pavitra Rishta.
(If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist.) Helplines: AASRA: 91-22-27546669 (24 hours) Sneha Foundation: 91-44-24640050 (24 hours) Vandrevala Foundation for Mental Health: 1860-2662-345 and 1800-2333-330 (24 hours) iCall: 022-25521111 (Available from Monday to Saturday: 8:00am to 10:00pm) Connecting NGO: 18002094353 (Available from 12 pm - 8 pm)
