Media, Mafia & Other Demons

Shivani Mohan

A strange revolution has taken place in India during the lockdown. A country where people have literally worshipped its film stars, is up in arms against this glamorous, glitzy world. The death of a brilliant actor Sushant Singh Rajput under mysterious circumstances in June this year sparked this gradual change, a coming of age of people of India. India’s film stars (apart from cricketeres) enjoy super luxurious lives, made possible by these innumerable fans who spend their hard earned money to buy tickets of these matinee idols, standing in long queues, often first day first show! There are few other avenues for entertainment and recreation. People soak in the make-believe world Hindi movies show, to get away from their ordinary lives. Now these die hard fans have realized how shallow and self-centred are these demi-gods.

 

When Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment with a film-like, shaky, make believe, suicide scene, there were many questions left unanswered. Within 15 minutes the inept Mumbai Police declared it as a suicide, even though no official had seen Sushant hanging. There was no suicide note. His live in girlfriend of one year, Rhea Chakraborty, who before this was also in News 2 years ago for her leaked risqué pictures with her mentor, 70 year old Mahesh Bhatt, had left Sushant’s house just 5 days ago, after some kind of difference of opinion. Within a few minutes there were articles online on mental health as if on cue. Simultaneously media came up with depression theories, bipolar theories while Mukesh Bhatt, Mahesh’s brother even going on to say ‘I had seen this coming, Sushant was a very disturbed mind...’ whatever that means. In fact one of Mahesh Bhatt's assistant directors, Suhrita Sen had written a long FB post(later deleted) consoling Rhea of the untimely death of a boyfriend she tried to rescue from the throes of depression, at 11 am on 14th Jun when the News was made public only around 1.30-2 pm.

In the past there have been many suspicious suicides/deaths in this industry that were hushed up, as no active social media existed. Mainstream media too worked rather slowly with mostly Newspapers announcing such a News the next day. Parveen Babi( ex girlfriend of Mahesh Bhatt, yeah he is back!), Divya Bharti (Young and beautiful wife of Sajid Nadiadwala who fell to her death from a high rise building) many years ago are some names. Incidentally Sajid was the first to express his dismay at Sushant’s dead body pictures being leaked. 

Jiah Khan

Disha Salian

Jiah Khan & Sridevi deaths under very suspicious circumstances are in recent memory. Jiah Khan left a long suicide note blaming her boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi for mentally and physically torturing her, but nothing much came out of that case. Her mother Rabia Khan has been fighting for justice for over 7 years. Another suspicious death is of Disha Salian on 8th Jun 2020, who was a manager of Sushant, who earlier also managed stars such as Aishwarya Rai Bachhan during the making of Sarabjit, which was produced by another very shady character, Sandeep Singh. Coincidentally Disha Salian worked for Cornerstone which is owned by Bunty Sajdeh, brother in law of Salman Khan's brother, Sohail Khan. Another company Kwan Entertainment, owned by Salman Khan, has had employees like Jaya Saha who have chats with Rhea regarding supply of drugs to be added to Sushant's tea/coffee and wait for 40 minutes before it kicks in. Kwan accounts have also been paying Rhea some kind of a payment (which could be a kickback) for some job assigned to her. Most people think there is a definite connection between Disha Salian's & Sushant's deaths.

Sushant with His Father

Once pictures of Sushant's dead body went viral(apparently leaked by Mumbai Police itself), they jabbed at the very consciousness of a nation. Here was a star who seemed to have it all. Why would he take such a drastic step? However many youtubers started delving deeper into the evidence available online and found many discrepancies. Finally with a lot of effort CBI was called for, as Mumbai Police was clearly trying to hide something. There have been rumours of a politician, some failed actors and builder goons involved in both Disha and Sushant's deaths. There has been constant chatter on social media as this indecipherable whodunnit played out on TV screens of lockdown confined and bored people.

 

Most astonishing have been the articles that have come up in defence of an earlier largely unknown entity called Rhea Chakraborty. These intellectuals completely ignore the fact that Rhea Chakraborty is being investigated for Money Laundering to the tune of Rs 15 Cr by ED (Enforcement Directorate), criminal conspiracy by CBI(Central Investigative Agency equivalent of FBI) and drug procurement, supplying and usage by NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) of India. Not a single person defending her so vocally would have watched even a single movie of the C grade actress, while Sushant has some remarkable films to his credit such as MS Dhoni, Kai Po Che, Kedarnath, PK & Chhichore, before which he was also a successful TV star. That a large part of Lutyens media rallied to defend a dubious character such as Rhea Chakraborty raises many eyebrows. The way the entire episode unfolded, hinted at a deep nexus between Bollywood bigwigs to eliminate Sushant, by honey trapping him with a largely unemployed Rhea. It is well known that the actors who do not find ample work in this industry, fall onto drug peddling, prostitution and other murky vocations to survive. Instances of many out of work starlets of yesteryears such as Mandakini, Monica Bedi, Kim Sharma and Mamta Kulkarni falling into the hands of Dubai underworld dons as their molls or noted international Drug Lords are known to all. Similarly out of work actors such as Aditya Pancholi and Arbaaz Khan indulge in illegal IPL betting or get associated with mafia and extortion rackets.

 

 

Starting with Rajdeep Sardesai’s much talked about scripted interview with Rhea aired on India Today, for which he flew to Mumbai overnight in a chartered plane, there has been a massive PR campaign to paint Rhea as a paragon of virtue and self sacrifice. Rhea came across as a compulsive liar in the interview with a propensity to spin yarns such as 'Sushant mere sapne mein aaya!" and 'Mujhe ek Chhota Sushant chahiye tha!'  and 'Sushant has fear of flying and claustrophobia' and then 'he got scared of a Gothic painting in an Italy hotel that had an indelible impact on his weak heart!' An aware and informed audience was not believing her frivolous statements. The TV channels divided in stark contrast. Republic anchored by the vociferous Arnab and Times Now led by Navika Kumar and Rahul Shivshankar were in stark contrast to India Today, CNN who embarked on a 'paint Rhea into a saint' mission and slandering Sushant as a drug addict & depressed person while alluding to a false sense of concern for 'mental health' and also maligning his family as greedy and backward. So the so called 'witch-hunt' has been quite balanced on both sides.

                                                          Arnab Goswami

 

When people on social media unleashed their fury at these hypocritical film stars who could not utter a single word in support for a fair investigation for Sushant’s death, many A Listers had to deactivate comments on their posts. Bollywood in the last few years is known to have deep connections with Dubai based underworld dons such as Dawood Ibrahim and ISI henchmen such as Aneel Mussarat. Many Bollywood celebrities have been seen in wedding celebrations of these ISI men on several occasions. It is alleged that Deepika Padukone made her appearance at JNU during the anti CAA riots last year at the behest of a phone call from Dubai and was allegedly paid Rs 5 Cr for the appearance. Thus it is becoming more and more obvious that anti India agencies in Pakistan and other countries have cultivated Indian filmstars, knowing fully well how popular they are and how powerful their social media currency is. But a largely film loving Indian is getting more and more disillusioned by this make believe world and their anti-India stance on most issues. Political scenario in last few years has brought about a resurgence of nationalistic pride and suddenly to the average youngster, the connect with India's ancient culture and heritage is becoming much stronger than these plastic and fallible images on the big screen(which too thanks to the lockdown are out of bounds for now).

When actors such as Sonam Kapoor, Taapsee Pannu and Sonakshi Sinha faced serious trolling on social media due to their callous, snide remarks and the Sadak 2 trailer from Bhatt camp became one of the most disliked trailers in the history of Youtube, the onus of defence of this fake Bollywood industry was passed on to the wives and girlfriends of stars, the fringe intelligentsia such as Twinkle Khanna, Tahira Kashyap Khurrana and Shibani Dandekar. These so called 'Smash Patriarchy' brigade come from families where the patriarch marries 2-3 women at will, producing children with multiple wives, who often fight for a slice of the pie when it comes to attention. What effect their fathers' multiple dalliances had on their psyches and views on patriarchy is open for debate. Many of them have been abject womanisers, flitting from one girlfriend to the next, wherein in promos of the movie Sanju, Sanjay Dutt’s character even boasts that he has been with over 300 women, which is cheered by this pseudo-smash patriarchy bunch adoringly. The flavor of the season girlfriend gets a break in Bollywood, a film or item number here or a flat there. Mahesh Bhatt, Javed Akhtar, Salim Khan and their progeny all belong to this category. There have been multiple me-too allegations against members of their family such as Sajid Khan whom these pseudo feminists conveniently forget. Sajid is just given a little yellow card, a time out not to produce films for a while. Another actor Pooja Misrra has made some serious allegations against Khan brotherhood of Salman, Arbaaz & Sohail on multiple occasions, to no heed. Salman Khan has got out of multiple court cases so far with the help of hotshot criminal lawyer Satish Maneshinde, who lo and behold is now also defending a 'middle class army officer's daughter', Rhea Chakraborty.

 

So when Rhea after ample interrogation by three premier agencies of India, known for their professionalism and no-nonsense work ethic- CBI, ED and NCB, charge some serious offences on Rhea, the illiberal brigade of India went into collective mourning. In such a scenario, Barkha Dutt, the queen of melodrama journalism and known for her on-camera assistance to terrorists and Pak army during conficts such as Kargil war and 26/11 attack, writes for Washington Post, making it a case of ‘India hates it's women’ plea, comparing her to Sanjay Dutt and Salman who too have had their brushes with the law in the past. She feels that because Rhea is a woman (hand me the tissue, please), she got a raw deal from India. One has to contend that Salman and Sanjay were mega stars with a body of work and much loved by the audiences so the jury may have been divided on their misdeeds. Also their offences, although serious, were not of such an immediate treachery and betrayal as displayed by Rhea. Over the years, there has been a growing disdain for people like Salman who manages to get out of all trouble, as money still speaks in India. But few respect him from their heart now. In any case, does being a woman absolve anyone from their crime? They conveniently forget, that everyone fighting for Sushant is also mentioning Disha Salian and Jiah Khan, Sridevi and Sunanda Pushkar in the same breath. India is also the country that had a huge people’s movement for Nirbhaya and Jessica Lal in the past. So using the misogyny argument for a drug peddler and swindler shows a rather cavalier attitude.

 

 

Akshay too is in the eye of a storm for the credentials of an App called FauG launched by him when it is in the public domain that Sushant (an Engineer by training and a brilliant, scientific mind) was working in the field of AI and had 3 patents. Akshay also launched a Covid related App along with Aditya Thackeray within a month of Sushant's death. It is known now that Sushant's research in 8 hard disks was forcibly taken away and deleted by some unknown persons before he died. Akshay's wife, Twinkle Khanna, weilding her writing skills comes to the rescue, in her article taking refuge in magic and levitation, perhaps on cue from a Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’, also recommended by Farhan Akhtar as a must watch on twitter, so as to dismiss this anger at Bollywood, simply as a social media phenomenon. Well, social media did play a role in amplifying the message but more than that, it has been the heartfelt empathy felt by the average Indian with the grieving family of Sushant Singh Rajput, who apart from losing a brilliant son are facing unwarranted slander at the hands of Shiv Sena goons and Rhea PR ecosystem. 

So these so called intellectuals vacillate between waxing eloquent about how GDP, Covid, China incursions, unemployment should be our talking points today and then quickly writing solid OpEd pieces defending a non entity called Rhea Chakraborty. Twinkle is a gifted writer and in an imaginative plea, compares Rhea's cutting in half by the media to a magician's trick. The media may have cut Rhea to size figuratively (partially because of her own lies and u-turns on camera) but what the average Indian has realized is that it is the Hindi movies, that with a conjurer’s trick make these demi Gods we adore, look like larger than life figures, superheroes fighting valiantly for justice, donning khaki and killing 10 goons in one go, upholding dharma and righteousness and what not. When in real life they are as fallible and flawed as anyone else, even more so as the entire industry couldn’t utter a single word, digging their face in the sand ostrich-like, in denial and scared of the mafia link or showing an indifference to a colleague's death, just to project a fake solidarity with each other. If you are an expert on India’s GDP, Madame Khanna, Dutt or Dandekar, by all means go ahead and write about it. Why are you wasting your time in defending a drug peddler?

 

Amy Kazmin in Financial Times goes a step further and uses a condescending tone that Sushant hailed from the impoverished state of Bihar, as if that means he has no right to justice. She writes a rather derogatory line for the actor's sisters,who have been fighting relentlessly to make it a Global movement for Justice for SSR. On any given day SSR related hashtags on Twitter cross 2 lakh mark, consistently for past 3 months! Amy says, ‘Cameos were made by the actor's therapists and heartbroken sisters...'’ completely missing the fine print. What does she know about familial ties in Indian society? India does not have a culture where children leave parents' home at 17 severing all ties and visiting each other formally on occasions! His sisters were a part of his life, almost raising him after his mother's death even though Rhea created some misunderstanding, putting weird blame on an elder & married sister of Sushant of molesting her. How crazy can you get? But then Rhea's videos are on the internet where she claims that even as a 7 year old she had turned her brother into a 'human slave' by her wilful imagination & 'superpowers'! Does Amy know that at the crime scene 2 ambulances were called? That there were perhaps 2 bodies rolled into one? That the crime scene was not sealed but made a thoroughfare on the day of the death, wherein even Sushant's locker full of expensive watches and cash was emptied completely by his so called friends? That Sushant's post mortem did not mention time of death? That the videography essential in a post mortem was also not done properly? That eye witnesses have mentioned multiple injuries on the body and even stun gun like marks on his neck, apart from ligature mark which is horizontal and not v shaped, thus hinting at death by strangulation and not hanging? It is a murder most horrid, that has given sleepless nights to many. Had some Indian TV channels not taken it up, the whole incident would have been buried under sparkling Gucci dark glasses, Jimmy Choos and Lamborghinis of Bollywood.

 

Now caught for drug related charges by NCB, an agency equivalent of DEA in the US, Rhea, who in interview to Rajdeep had completely denied anything to do with drugs, has released videos recorded by her, in which Sushant looks drugged and not in his element. He looks like a man possessed and but a pale shadow of himself. The slow poisoning was working and the so called love of his life was recording him at his most vulnerable. Tahira Kashyap who made a case for patriarchy in a colourful insta post, with strange references to intruding relatives and real estate agents, misses the point again. In our pursuit to being feminists and emancipated, have we also bred a category of women who can be heartless enough to literally alienate their partners from family & friends, leaching them of money,  sanctity and even sanity? If Rhea is the face of modern feminism, then it is a very demonic and ugly face. Human relationships are based on the premise of give and take. The gender does not matter. Both the partners have to at least intend to do the other good. Tahira is a cancer survivor and from what we know, Ayushmann took time off from work to nurture her and helped her combat that very tough time in her life. That is what good partners do, male or female. How would she have felt if Ayushmann had recorded her in her weakest, vulnerable moments and released them for public consumption? Would anyone have justified it if her partner had procured dangerous drugs for her and administered them to her (with or without her knowledge) while she already suffered from a medical problem? No. So what applies for a man, applies for a woman too. Let's not confuse support to an accused no 1 on multiple offences with 'smashing patriarchy'.

That this entire group is discrediting an actor who is not here to defend himself, shows their class and hypocrisy. Perhaps the last nail in the coffin was dealt by veteran actor and SP MP, Jaya Bachchan's emphatic speech in the house of the parliament today, in which she made a case for undue targeting and maligning of the industry, also attacking BJP MP, actor Ravi Kishan  who yesterday spoke passionately on the need to cleanse Bollywood of it's drug cartels. 

Twitter, irreverent and free-spirited as it is, was rife with memes on the Bollywood drug parties, with explicit pictures of A listers and hangers on including Jaya's daughter Shweta Bachchan and grand daughter, Navya Naveli in different stages of drug induced intoxication caught on camera. Jaya seems to have disturbed a hornet's nest and must be biting her tongue in dismay. After all no industry is above scrutiny. There is no harm in calling a spade a spade and addressing long neglected issues that are rendering the DNA of the much loved industry hollow.

Unless Bollywood faces it's inner demons, it will continue with it's egotistical, mutual admiration society banter and typical quid pro quo culture of not speaking of flaws in the industry openly, even flouting the whistleblower such as Kangana. They can continue to fool themselves and can be prepared to buy each other's movie tickets and taking them to the 100 CR clubs in future. Coz the people of India ain't doing it, until the murderers of SSR & Disha Salian are punished!

-Shivani Mohan