How a background dancer (like me) became a movie star... by Sushant Singh Rajput
Hindustan Times | ByAs told to Ananya Ghosh
Aug 06, 2017 02:18 PM IST
He is the ‘outsider’ in Bollywood. He dropped out of his engineering course and gave up a scholarship to go to Stanford University to become an actor. From sharing a one room kitchen with six other guys, to becoming a player in the big league, Sushant Singh Rajput has been there and done that. Now, to inspire other aspiring actors, he revisits his road to success:
The college compound was huge, just as Bollywood movies promise you. I was a wide-eyed boy from Patna in Delhi, befitting the typical hero. It was the first day of college. The stage was set for me to bump into the heroine. But where was she?
Sushant wears a suit by Canali, shirt by Selected Homme and shoes by O’Keeffe. Stlyling by Vainglorious, make-up by Vicky Salvi and hair by Milan Thapa(Subi Samuel)
Shah Rukh helped me sort out my confusion about who I should be. (Jacket from Hackett London, shirt from Red Fleece, pants from Selected Homme and shoes from Bally) (Subi Samuel)
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…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....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.
I’d sometimes take a break and stand in front of the mirror and lip-sync to Suraj Hua Maddham. (Suit from Canali, shirt from Brooks Brothers and shoes from Bally) (Subi Samuel)
Honestly, even if I would’ve been offered a role back then, I would’ve refused because I was a complete introvert. The lip-syncing and posing would happen only in front of the mirror, with just me in the audience.
Many would call the years before I hit Bollywood the struggling period but not me. I was not struggling. I was already doing what I loved. (Suit by Selected Homme, shirt by Canali and shoes from O’keeffe) (Subi Samuel)
t was 2006, my final year in college, when I dropped this bomb at home. They were shocked! So shocked that they couldn’t say anything and I took their silence as their approval!
The stage unleashed me, liberated me. (Sushant wears a suit, shirt and pocket square from Brooks Brothers and shoes from O’Keeffe) (Subi Samuel)
After all these years of being shy, I could now say and do things I wanted to, behind the garb of the character. The stage unleashed me, liberated me.
I am not here for money or fame, I am here because I love to act (Subi Samuel)
It is important that the role excites me. While reading the script, I like to find my way to play the character. If I already know how to go about with the character, for me the charm is lost.
