We all love the world of cinema and the people who are part of it. The world of cinema is full of inspiring and struggling stories. One such enlivened and inspiring journey was of adorable young talent Sushant Singh Rajput, a true performer. It’s been a year since he left this world. Death was a massive shock and tragedy, not only for his fans and peers, but also for the world. It gives us a reality check on life where we are stuck finding happiness, materialistic things and fame, but maybe life is beyond it.
The desolating and sad part is seeing a few people who are en-cashing such tragedy for their benefits and grudges. While there has been much said and mentioned on this event, many have forgotten the important part: we have lost a true Performer, a remarkable talent who was exceptional and exemplary at the craft as an artist. Sushant entertained us, made us emotional, made us laugh, and also inspired us in many ways personally and professionally. In life, one can talk about failure, and one can talk about glory. Sushant spoke both personally and artistically.
In this article, I have talked about 5 of the stunning characters projected and nailed by the true performer Sushant. The hard work he did to justify those characters, some of the insights on his skills, process and some of the moments he has created threw performance.
1. Raghu, ’Shuddh Desi Romance’
It was the second film of Sushant after a successful debut and praised performance for “Kai Po Che!” He plays the lead role of Raghu, a commitment-phobic guy who falls in love with a girl of a similar mentality and again falls for another girl working as a tour guide and part-time barati in the city of Jaipur.
Surprisingly, Sushant considered playing Raghu his trickiest performance. Because his method is to become a person he is projecting and playing, Raghu was challenging as he was the opposite of what Shusant was. He believed in commitment, and playing commitment-phobic guy was tough for him. He has given it an equal amount of time and energy of what he gave for the role of Dhoni. In this movie, Sushant gives an underrated performance and also showed his excellent dancing skills.
2. Byomkesh Bakshi, ’Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!’
This thriller is based on the iconic character of the Bengali detective, set in 1940s Calcutta. Sushant plays the lead of Byomkesh Bakshi; he immersed himself in character, brought urgency and restlessness to the role, but still kept the originality of the iconic role alive, giving us a memorable role of young Bymokesh Bakshi.
Two scenes out of the movie where you will see excellent acting by Sushant: the entry of Byomkesh Bakshi, where Sushant makes great use of his eyes and silence to make the scene more involving. The second scene is where he finds out the missing person’s truth and explains to him the whole situation with ease and style, which won’t let you take your eyes off him.
It was Sushant’s 4th film, but he decided to play the character, which shows how versatile he was. He was born in Bihar and brought up in Delhi and was a Bengali guy of 1940s. He used to hold the cigarette between two fingers in the ‘V’ victory sign in a movie resembling TV’s “Bymokesh Bakshi.”
3. Anni, ‘Chhichhore’
This movie came out last year, directed by Nitish Tiwari, where Sushant played the role of a younger and older version of Anni. The younger side is a fun-loving eand nthusiastic engineering student. And the older part is a father of a son who is swinging between alive and dead.
Sushant brought an enormous amount of freshness and energy to the young version of Anni, where you will literally fall in love with the character (impressively for older Anni, the actor brings raw emotion and affect, allowing us to feel his helplessness).
The two stand-out scenes from this role in “Chhichhore” are when an older man breaks down in front of his deathbed saying this is not fair. This scene going touch you deeply. Another scene, where young Anni gives ideas to his wing guys to win a college tournament is also deft and emotional. And the kind of fun humor and dialogue delivery he brings will provide you with a high dose of a laugh.
Susahnt told his co-worker, Tahir Bhasin, that he has to play good cricket as Gavaskar, not as Tahir, which helps start to get more into his role. This shows how genuine and kind towards fellow actors where he didn’t hesitate to share his processes.
4. Lakhna, ‘Sonchiriya’
“Sonchariya” came last year directed by Abhishek Chaubey along with an excellent star cast. Sushant plays a vital role in Lakhna. A bandit inflicts pain by guilt, yet a bandit in search of solace. Lakhna often wonders the purpose of baghi and the karma of baghi. He gets no answers, but he continues, looking for one gateway, some redemption, later finding hope in extricating little girl named Sonchiriya.
Sushant has got into the skin of Lakhna—from the look, to walk, to the way he talks. Through his flawless acting, you can feel the heart, soul, and emotion of a baghi. He has done a marvelous job as a baghi, which is hard to remove from memory.
Two scenes from “Sonchiriya” bring you into his great performance: first, when the gang is in search of policemen who killed their gang members it reaches his house, and Lakhna and leader Singh end up killing children in hiding by mistake. The moment and shock which get created by Rajput with expression is stark. Second, Lakhna is saving a little girl, and it’s late at night. He notices the girl is not able to sleep. He switches from being baghi , and shows her the only magic trick he knew, one with his hands. The camera is on Lakha more steadily than the glimpse of a girl, and he is still haunted by his incident with kids. During the trick, he still manages to be both frisky and haunted.
For “Sonchiriya,”Sushant learned and delivered a flawless Bundelkhandi accent. Many talented artists were part of the film; but Sushant held the audience captive through the wide-ranging use of restraint in his acting.
5. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, ’M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’
It is one of the most outstanding performances of Sushant for which he is always going to be remembered. The movie directed by Neeraj Pandey is a biopic of Indian captain M.S Dhoni.
Sushant imbibed the essence and evolution of a small-town boy living the larger-than-life role of an Indian cricket team captain. It will be an injustice to say he played Dhoni. Instead, we can say he becomes Dhoni—the way he talks, the way he walk, the way he plays iconic helicopter shorts.
Sushant did not get a long time with ‘Captain Cool.’ However, he was still able to resemble him. Dhoni said in an interview that “my expression would be blank in the intense situation.” However, for Sushant, portraying those moments can be challenging; still, he was able to deliver it so smoothly. He trained for nine months with extended hours in nets and transformed himself from a regular guy to the pro cricketer. As per his trainer, cricketer Kiran More, he became a perfect cricketer. It shows how dedicated, serious, and passionate Shushant was towards his craft.
Within the ten films across his seven-years of the short journey, he covered a lot of ground: from a district-level cricket player (“Kai Po Che!”) to Captain Cool (“M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story”); from a commitment-phobic Jaipur tour guide (“Shuddh Desi Romance”) to a pithoo who guides devotees through the pilgrimage (“Kedarnath”); from an iconic detective (“Detective Byomkesh Bakshi!”) to a dacoit in search of soul (“Sonchiriya”); from a small part in (“PK”) to playing a young engineering student and father (“Chhichhore”).
Sushant was boundless talent. He was one of the most diligent actors of his generation. And that reflects in the perfections and silences of his performances. He worked the hardest to forget, as he believed in illimitable opportunities. His stellar filmography is the result of his dedication. Sushant is no more with us; maybe he is at a better place; one will always be able to feel his essence and presence in his characters.
We should never forget the inevitable, as we will lose everything eventually so, why fret over any kind of security? The idea is to just fly and experience it while itSushant singh rajput
