Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has highlighted India’s frantic press and the inside world of Bollywood

Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput’s death has latched on to India and the film industry, sparking outrage against the media over the grueling coverage.

The abrupt death of Sushant Singh Rajput has spurred a debate about the stigma of mental health, the exclusive insider world of Bollywood, and, more recently, condemnation of the media for the non-stop coverage of the duelling accusations between Rajput’s family and his alleged girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty.

Mumbai police initially reported Rajput’s death as accidental and local media called it a suicide. But the federal police agency is now investigating if there was any foul play and is questioning Chakraborty and others.

On Tuesday, Chakraborty was arrested by India’s narcotics department, which is investigating a drug case linked to the probe of Rajput’s death. The actor has denied any wrongdoing and her lawyer, Satish Maneshinde, called the arrest “a travesty of justice”. Her bail plea has been rejected and the actor has been remanded to judicial custody until September 22.

It is also being reported that Rhea during her bail plea disclosed that “80 percent of Bollywood celebrities” consume drugs. According to details, many celebrities are under NCB’s radar and around 25 of them are likely to be summoned before the agency.

Along the way, the story has become a media obsession in India, fed by a wave of TV coverage still swelling almost three months after Rajput, 34, was found dead in his Mumbai apartment.

In recent weeks, India’s TV channels have given more airtime to the Rajput case than India’s surging COVID-19 caseload, a plane crash and top political stories, according to the Broadcast Audience Research Council.

India’s boisterous TV networks, which include more than 350 news channels in English and several local languages, have flashed photos of Rajput’s body, analysed his medical prescriptions, even used voodoo dolls and graphics of a skull to hype allegations that “black magic” was performed on the actor.

The federal police, the High Court in Mumbai, and the government watchdog Press Council of India have all criticised coverage of the investigation.

Chakraborty, 28, was regularly hounded by reporters when she appeared in public, with news commentators opining on her innocence or guilt.

Rajput’s family claims she poisoned him, used black magic and is responsible for his death.

“There has been a conspiracy to break me and my family and my spirit,” Chakraborty said in an interview with television anchor Rajdeep Sardesai in late August. “It is the systematic breakdown of an innocent family, an innocent girl who loved an innocent boy.”

On Sunday, she was jostled by a pack of journalists as she tried to enter a narcotics department office in Mumbai, where police struggled to disperse the crowd. Visuals from the scene were harrowing and unsettling, to say the least.

The CBI, the federal police agency, said last month it was investigating allegations of abetment to suicide and criminal conspiracy. Its announcement came after requests from Rajput’s family and Chakraborty.

In a statement last week, the CBI said some media reports on its probe were “speculative” and “not credible.” The bureau, it said, “has not shared any details of investigation with media.”

The Press Council of India has urged the media not to “conduct its own parallel trial.”

Some television editors have defended the coverage.

Arnab Goswami, editor of Republic TV and a widely watched anchor known for his sharp-elbowed commentary, last week credited his channel’s coverage with ensuring that Rajput’s death wasn’t “whitewashed” as a suicide.

“I pushed, I pressurised, I connected the dots,” he told news website OpIndia. “In the process, if I’ve done a media trial, I’m happy I have done one.”

Bollywood responds

Following Rhea’s arrest, several Bollywood actors including Sonam Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Vidya Balan and Taapsee Pannu have extended their support to the actor by sharing the quote written on the t-shirt Rhea was wearing on the day of her arrest.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, Let’s smash the patriarchy me and you,” the quote read.

Correction. She wasn’t consuming. Financing and procuring for Sushant. So in that case if he was alive he would’ve been put behind bars too ? Oh no. She must’ve forced the drugs onto him. Sushant must’ve been force fed marijuana. Yes that’s what it is exactly. We did it guys 🙌🏼 https://t.co/6f8l7DncuI

— taapsee pannu (@taapsee) September 8, 2020

Meanwhile, Anurag Kashyap shared a screenshot of his chat with Sushant’s manager in which he commented that the late actor was “difficult”.

And that is also the reason the whole industry has been quiet so far out of respect for him . And now it is that very knowledge of SSR that has again brought everyone out here together to stand in solidarity for Rhea because it’s gone too far. Republic doesn’t inform our opinion.

— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) September 9, 2020

I am sorry that I am doing this but this chat is from three weeks before he passed away. Chat with his manager on 22 May .. havent don’t it so far but feel the need now .. yes I didn’t want to work with him for my own reasons .. https://t.co/g4fLmI5g9h pic.twitter.com/cHSqRhW9BD

— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) September 9, 2020

Earlier, the Producers Guild of India issued a statement condemning the attacks against the film industry.

The Guild in the statement noted that the “tragic death of a promising young star has been used by some as a tool to defame and slander the film industry and its members”.

The organisation explained that the picture painted of the industry as a “terrible place for outsiders to aspire to, a place that threatens those who dare to enter it with contempt and derision; a murky den of substance abuse and criminality” was not the truth.

The Guild accepted that the film industry has its “imperfections” and that to “paint an entire industry with the same brush is a gross misrepresentation of reality”.

#InSolidarity pic.twitter.com/3XL557tlZz

— Producers Guild of India (@producers_guild) September 4, 2020