Bollywood fraternity mourned the untimely death of Sushant Singh Rajput, who was found hanging in his Bandra apartment on Sunday. Many expressed shock and disbelief while others spoke about how the industry is unkind to an outsider. A lot of celebrities took to social media to say how they could not be there for the actor at a time he may have needed a friend.
However, Saif Ali Khan does not seem to be too impressed by this outpouring of sympathetic messages on social media.
Speaking to The Times of India, the actor said too many people are making comments too quick and added that out of respect for the deceased, "maybe a day of silence or introspection would be a little more becoming than this outpouring of love."
He pointed out that this outpouring of love has come obviously from people who "didn't care about him and people who famously don't care about anybody else."
The actor said Bollywood is a "cutthroat line of work," where people don't care about each other. Khan said pretending to care is the ultimate hypocrisy "and I think that's an insult to the dead, you know, it's an insult to the soul that's gone."
Pointing out that we live in an era where people are wax eloquent on social media but does not even bother to greet when meeting in person, he said, "I don't think this is the time to comment. And let's just respect that moment by keeping quiet, not by saying how much you cared about him, or didn't care about him, because, obviously, none of that mattered to him. So what's the point of saying all of it now?"
He also lashed out at people who are speaking about the "camps" in Bollywood saying, "But to blame anybody or to you know, draw these camps out, this is pathetic. I think it's a function of lockdown plus social media."
Khan pointed out that films may not be the only reason Rajput decided to commit suicide. "There is more to life. Maybe he was upset about other things in his life. Maybe it was a personal reason. Maybe it's nothing to do with films," The Times of India quoted him as saying.