Rajput began his acting career after dropping out of his engineering course at theDelhi College of Engineering and entering the theatre industry inMumbai. He moved on to feature inHindi television serials, his debut show was the romantic dramaKis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil (2008), followed by the lead role in the soap operaPavitra Rishta (2009–2011). He made his film debut with the film adaptationKai Po Che! (2013) which became a critical and commercial success. He followed up with his starring roles as a tourist guide in the romantic comedyShuddh Desi Romance (2013) and thetitular detective in the mystery filmDetective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015). Rajput's highest-grossing releases came with a supporting role in the satirePK (2014), and from the title role in the sports biopic ofMahendra Singh Dhoni. For his performance in the latter, he received his first nomination for theFilmfare Award for Best Actor.
Rajputdied by suicide at his home inBandra, Mumbai, in June 2020, aged 34.[6][7][8] Various controversies surrounded his death. TheNarcotics Control Bureau claimed Rajput had been using various people to obtain drugs since 2018 and filed abetment charges against them. Abetment to suicide charges were filed and the case was handed to theCentral Bureau of Investigation, who filed a closure report on 22 March 2025 ruling out any foul play.[9] His last film,Dil Bechara (2020), was released posthumously on the streaming platformHotstar.
Early life and education
Sushant Singh Rajput was born inPatna in the state ofBihar to Krishna Kumar Singh and Usha Singh.[3][10][11] His father is a retired technical officer and worked at Bihar State Handloom Corporation inPatna, and his mother was a homemaker.[12] Rajput was the only son and the youngest of five siblings and had the nickname Gulshan.[13] One of his four sisters, Mitu Singh, was a state-level cricket player.[10] He studied atSt. Karen's High School in Patna.[13][14] His family moved to Delhi following his mother's death in 2002 where he completed his schooling for intermediate studies in theKulachi Hansraj Model School.[11]
During his course at the Delhi College of Engineering, Rajput enrolled himself inShiamak Davar's dance classes.[10] Soon afterward, he also began attending acting classes under the theatre directorBarry John.[18][19] Rajput later stated that he found the experience to be liberating and wanted to continue doing it forever.[20] He featured as a background dancer in theDhoom Again song ofDhoom 2 and inAishwarya Rai's performance at the closing ceremony of the2006 Commonwealth Games.[21] In 2006, he dropped out of his engineering course during his fourth year to begin a career in arts and performance.[22][23] He moved toMumbai, took up odd jobs and small roles alongside working in the theatre industry.[24] Rajput eventually joinedNadira Babbar's theatre group called theEkjute in which he remained for two and a half years.[25][26]
He was spotted by a casting team ofBalaji Telefilms while he was working at thePrithvi Theatre.[18] Rajput was subsequently called for an audition and cast as a second lead in the television seriesKis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil in 2008.[27][28] He had secured the role of Preet Singh Juneja, the stepbrother of the lead named Harshad Chopda and entered the show in its seventh episode.[29] The character was killed early in the show, but due to popularity among viewers was brought back in the series finale as a spirit looking on as his family celebrated coming out of difficult times.[30] The performance had made an impression on the producerEkta Kapoor who vouched for him to be cast as the lead in another seriesPavitra Rishta,[27] reportedly against the wishes of the hosting channel,Zee TV.[31][32]
InPavitra Rishta, Rajput was cast as Manav Deshmukh who was an "ideal son and husband" and co-starred along withAnkita Lokhande.[33] The role was reportedly a breakthrough for him and for which he won various television awards,[34] including his first award for best actor in theIndian Television Academy Awards 2010.[35] He also won three major television awards in the categories of best male actor and most popular actor.[36] In 2010, he joined the dance reality showZara Nachke Dikha in its second season as part of theMast Kalandar Boys team.[37][36] On theMother's Day special episode, the team dedicated a performance to Rajput's mother who had died.[38] Later in the same year, he also took part in the fourth season of another dance competition reality show calledJhalak Dikhhla Jaa and was paired alongside the choreographer Shampa Sonthalia; they emerged as the runners-up of the season.[37]
Rajput continued to act inPavitra Rishta from its first airing in 2009 till his exit in 2011,[39] having played the part of the protagonist of the series for two and a half years at the time of his exit.[40] He had stated that he intended to move to theUnited States to study filmmaking and had already gained experience behind the scenes in the filmRaaz 2,[28] where he was anassistant director.[41] Rajput made a later reappearance in the final episode ofPavitra Rishta in 2014 after gaining critical acclaim inBollywood.[40]
In 2011, Rajput was spotted by Mukesh Chhabra, the casting director ofKai Po Che!, who invited him for an audition.[42][43] He was in the process of enrolling for a course in filmmaking atStanford University but decided to accept the offer.[18] He was subsequently cast in the role of Ishaan Bhatt, a district-level cricketer who was a victim of politics in the selection fraternity and one of the three leads, along withRajkummar Rao andAmit Sadh.[44][45] The film was directed byAbhishek Kapoor and based on theChetan Bhagat novel calledThe 3 Mistakes of My Life, which dealt with the life of three friends affected by the2001 Gujarat earthquake and the2002 Gujarat riots. It was released in 2013 and became a critical and commercial success.[46] Rajput received a nomination for theFilmfare Awards in the category of best debut actor for his performance in the film.[47][48]
Before the release of his debut filmKai Po Che!, Rajput was signed in byRajkumar Hirani for a role in theAamir Khan-starrer satirical drama calledPK.[18][49] In the film, he was cast as the boyfriend toAnushka Sharma's character of a journalist.[50] He also entered into a deal withYash Raj Films beginning with the starring role in the filmShuddh Desi Romance.[18] The film was a romantic comedy, where Rajput played the character of Raghu Ram Sitaram, a tour guide who fell in love with a woman on the way to his own marriage, it featuredParineeti Chopra andVaani Kapoor.[19][51]Shuddh Desi Romance was released in 2013 and became asleeper hit.[52] Following the release of his first two films, Rajput was described by the veteran directorShekhar Kapur as "one of the most inspiring young actors to emerge out of India" and was occasionally referred to as the "nextSRK".[18] The filmPK was later released in 2014 and became thehighest grossing Indian film.[53][54]
In June 2013, Yash Raj Films andDibakar Banerjee Productions announced the joint production ofDetective Byomkesh Bakshy! with Sushant Singh Rajput in the starring role.[55][56] Rajput began working on the new project following the release of his second filmShuddh Desi Romance.[57] The film was amysteryaction-thriller featuring Byomkesh Bakshi, a fictional detective originally created by the Bengali writerSharadindu Bandyopadhyay.[58] Dibakar Banerjee, the director of the film and the IP rights holder ofByomkesh Bakshi stories had signed him in to play the part of the protagonist.[18] Before the release, Rajput made a special appearance in thepolice crime dramaCID in the character of Byomkesh Bakshy.[59] The film was released on 3 April 2015,[60] and failed to perform well in thebox office, but received positive critical reviews.[61][62] In September 2013, Rajput began collaborating with Shekhar Kapur for his upcoming projectPaani, a film set in the future that showcased a world where wars were being fought over water.[63] The film was initially reported to be starred byHrithik Roshan and thenVivek Oberoi but finally went to Rajput after Yash Raj Films entered in its co-production and opted for his inclusion.[64] He had reportedly attended workshops with Kapur for 10 months before the project was suspended in 2015 when the Yash Raj Films backed out of it.[65][66] In the aftermath, Rajput ended his contract with the production house.[67]
2016–2017: Dhoni biopic,Raabta andKedarnath
In 2011, a biopic on the life of theIndian cricket team captainMahendra Singh Dhoni was conceived by Dhoni's manager, Arun Pandey.[68] The project was initially faced with various difficulties including objections from theBoard of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Dhoni's demand for a large royalty.[69][70] On 25 September 2014, Sushant Singh Rajput was announced as the actor who would play the role of Dhoni in the biopic which was titledM.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story and directed byNeeraj Pandey.[69][71] The film was centered around the life of the cricketer beginning with his childhood in the city ofRanchi and leading up to the2011 Cricket World Cup victory for India under his captaincy.[48] Incidentally, Rajput wasn't adept at cricket and had to train regularly in the game for 13 months as well as capture the playing style of Dhoni for his portrayal in the film,[68] he was coached byKiran More who reportedly trained him in the regimen of a professional sportsperson rather than as an actor.[72] The film was produced by Arun Pandey withFox Star Studios and released on 2 October 2016.[73] It became the 5th highest grossing Bollywood film of that year.[74] Rajput received critical acclaim for his performance and nominations to a number of awards,[3] including the Filmfare Awards, theInternational Indian Film Academy Awards and the winning nomination at theIndian Film Festival of Melbourne.[75][43][76] He also made acameo appearance in the comedy filmWelcome to New York,[77] which was released on 23 February 2018 and where the lead characters met Rajput but confused him for Mahendra Singh Dhoni.[78]
During the release ofM. S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, Rajput in an interview had stated that he was signed up to do five more films; namelyRaabta,Takadum,Chanda Mama Door Ke, another biopic of an athlete and a film produced byDharma Productions featuringJacqueline Fernandez.[79] Earlier in 2014, reports had emerged that Rajput was being signed in alongsideAlia Bhatt for the starring roles in the largest budget production of the producer–directorsHomi Adajania andDinesh Vijan.[80] In an announcement in February 2015, the film titledRaabta, produced by the Vijan ownedMaddock Films and co-directed by Adajania and Vijan was publicised where Rajput and Bhatt were in the lead role.[81] Bhatt however decided to opt out of the project in the same year,[82] and the role of the female lead eventually went toKriti Sanon.[83] Rajput and Sanon later featured in a 2017T-Series music video of the song namedPaas Aao, composed by the duoArmaan andAmaal Mallik.[84] In 2017, he was featured for first time in theForbes India'sTop 100 Celebrity list.[4]
The second biopic that Rajput was to feature in was tentatively titled asMurli: The Unsung Hero, where he would play the role of the disabledjawan turnedParalympics gold medalistMurlikant Petkar.[85] In June 2016, Rajput along with Parineeti Chopra andIrrfan Khan were also announced as the lead of the Adajania directed film calledTakadum with shooting scheduled to begin in October but the project was being put on hold due to issues related to script re-adaptation.[86] Meanwhile, the announcement of Rajput's role inChanda Mama Door Ke had come in September 2016.[79] In the film which was to be directed bySanjay Puran Singh, Rajput would have starred alongsideR. Madhavan andNawazuddin Siddiqui and was cast in the role of an astronaut, for which he was even sent toNASA on a training module in 2017.[87] He was also cast as the lead in thespy thriller filmRomeo Akbar Walter in 2017,[88] however he quit the project in the same year reportedly causing displeasure to the producerBunty Walia who had publicised the film with him on the cover.[89][90] Later in December 2017, it was announced that he was signed in byAbhishek Chaubey, the director ofUdta Punjab for his next film titledSonchiriya, where he would star alongsideBhumi Pednekar.[91]
Raabta was released on 9 June 2017,[92] which subsequently received mixed reviews from critics and emerged as a flop in the box office, unable to recover its large production cost.[93] It was a time transcending love story,[94] where Sushant Singh Rajput played the role of two characters who were reincarnations of each other.[95] While the filming was primarily carried out in the city of Budapest,Hungary, in the Indian state ofPunjab and in the island country ofMauritius.[96] Earlier in March 2017, Rajput had also begun shooting alongside Jacqueline Fernandez forKaran Johar's Dharma Productions film, by then titled asDrive.[97][98] The film was directed byTarun Mansukhani and was a prequel to the 2014 filmBang Bang!,[97] that had featuredHrithik Roshan andKatrina Kaif.[99] Part of the shooting occurred in the city ofTel Aviv,Israel which was promoted by theGovernment of Israel as a part of its tourism and diplomatic initiative.[100] The release was initially scheduled for 2 March 2018, but in a February announcement, the date was moved to 7 September 2018.[101] The release was however postponed for a second time with no fixed release date due to creative disagreements between the director Mansukhani and the producer Karan Johar.[102]
In the meantime in March 2017, Rajput was signed in by the director Abhishek Kapoor and the producer Ekta Kapoor for their film calledKedarnath.[103] It was a love story set in the backdrop of the2013 floods in Uttarakhand, where Rajput co-starred withSara Ali Khan.[104][105] He played the character of Mansoor, a Muslim porter who was also a devotee ofLord Shiva and whose livelihood revolved around theShiv temple at Kedarnath.[61][106] The shooting of the film began in September 2017 and was set to release by June 2018.[107][108] During the shooting, Abhishek Kapoor who had previously been the director of Rajput's debut filmKai Po Che!, stated that Rajput was in much better form forKedarnath and expected it to become an even bigger success.[109] The film however soon became embroidered in controversy as theBharatiya Janata Party alleged that it was promoting Jihad by showing aninterfaith couple and called for the imposition of a ban on it.[106][110] In the end, the film was banned from screening in 7 out of 13 districts inUttarakhand and released on 7 December 2018.[111][112] Despite the ban, it became a commercial success,[113] although it didn't completely meet the projected success in the box office.[10] Following the release, it was the second highest grossing among Rajput's starring films after the Dhoni biopic.[114]
On 2 May 2018, Rajput was inducted as a partner in a company named Innsaei Ventures, which was founded on 26 April 2018; following which he was appointed as one of its three directors, the others being Varun Mathur and Saurabh Mishra.[115] Rajput and Mathur were credited as the co-founders and set to make an investment of₹300 crore (equivalent to₹401 crore or US$47 million in 2023) in the company.[116] The company was named Innsaei after theIcelandic word for Institution and marketed as working in the fields related tointellectual property andemerging technologies.[117][116] Within a week, he was signed in byNITI Aayog to become a brand ambassador of theWomen Entrepreneurship Platform and for the promotion of theBHIM mobile payment app.[118][119] Subsequently, Innsaei Ventures set up a fund of₹20 crore (equivalent to₹27 crore or US$3.2 million in 2023) in favour of the Women Entrepreneurship Platform.[120] In the same year, Rajput announced the first creative product of Innsaei Ventures, a 12 biopic series where he would play the roles of various Indian historical characters between the years of 540 BC to 2015 CE.[121][122]
In early 2018, Rajput began shooting for the filmSonchiriya.[123] It was ahistorical drama set in the 1970s, where he played the role of a character named Lakhna, a lieutenant in a gang ofdacoits; he was in the lead role alongside Bhumi Pednekar,Manoj Bajpayee,Ranvir Shorey andAshutosh Rana.[61][19] The film was directed by Abhishek Chaubey, produced byRonnie Screwvala and featured the real life character ofDaku Man Singh, played by Bajpayee.[124][125] Released on 1 March 2019,[126] it received a positive critical reception and won a number of awards but failed to become a commercial success.[61] In 2018, he was also signed in byNitesh Tiwari, the director of theblockbuster filmDangal for his new film titledChhichhore, whose shooting began in September.[127] It was aromantic comedy where Rajput played the character of Anirudh Pathak,[128] a divorced husband who recounts his college life to his teenage son and opposite Maya, his ex-wife played byShraddha Kapoor.[61][19] Produced by Fox Star Studios andNadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, the film was released on 6 September 2019,[129] and became the third movie featuring Rajput to gross over₹100 crore (equivalent to₹124 crore or US$15 million in 2023) afterPK and the Dhoni biopic.[68] The film won theNational Film Award forBest Feature Film in Hindi.[130]
In an interview in January 2019, before the release ofSonchiriya, Rajput had stated that he was in the talks for 12 other films of whichChanda Mama Door Ke and the biopic of Murlikant Petkar were yet to be finalised.[131] He was to feature inRifleman, but the film got into legal trouble over copyright issues shortly after its announcement and could not be made.[132] He had opted out of the production ofChanda Mama Door Ke in the previous year citing timing conflict in scheduling for its shooting and had stated that he would produce his own space film through Innsaei Ventures.[133] In September 2019, a second company named Vividrage Rhealtyx was registered with a paid up capital of₹1 lakh (equivalent to₹1.2 lakh or US$1,500 in 2023); Rajput became one of the three directors of the company, the others beingRhea Chakraborty and Showik Chakraborty.[134][135] Meanwhile, the long delayed release of the film titledDrive had itspremiere finalised and was released directly onNetflix in November 2019, as a cost cutting measure.[136][137][138] On 6 January 2020, Rajput also founded anonprofit organisation (NGO) named Front India for World Foundation with the stated intent of working towards the eradication of poverty, hunger and malnutrition and promotion of better healthcare andsanitation.[135][139] Prior to that, on behalf of one of his fans, he donated₹1 crore (US$120,000) to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund following the2018 Kerala floods.[140][141] In 2019, he featured the second time in Forbes' annualTop 100 Celebrity list.[5]
Since 2017, Rajput was signed in for the directorial debut of Mukesh Chhabra;[142]Fox Star Studios had employed Chhabra for aHindi language remake ofThe Fault in Our Stars, aHollywood hit film produced by20th Century Fox.[143] Chabbra had also been the casting director who had first spotted him forKai Po Che!, which was Rajput's debut film.[144][42] The shooting for the film began on 9 July 2018, in the city ofJamshedpur,Jharkhand.[145][146] During the time of the shooting, Rajput had remarked that he shared a great bond with Chhabra and had promised Chhabra that he would appear in his first as well.[144] Based on the novel by the same nameThe Fault in Our Stars written by the authorJohn Green,[147] the film was initially titledKizie aur Manny and was scheduled to release in theatres in 2019.[148] Rajput co-starred alongsideSanjana Sanghi and played the character of Manny, a patient of the bone cancerosteosarcoma;[149] the role in the Hindi remake was a reprisal of the role ofAnsel Elgort.[150] It also notably featuredSaif Ali Khan and musical compositions ofA. R. Rahman.[151] The title was later renamed toDil Bechara and the release date moved to 8 May 2020.[152] The slated release of the film however did not occur due to restrictions imposed during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[153] In the end, it was posthumously released on thestreaming platformDisney+ Hotstar and became a record breaker in its first 24 hours viewership, having gathered approximately 95 million viewers.[154] The director Uday Singh Gauri claimed after Rajput's death that he was in talks with him about a film based on the2008 Mumbai attacks.[155]
Rajput's personal relationships have been the subject of widespread media attention.[156][157] In 2011, Rajput publicly proposed to hisPavitra Rishta co-starAnkita Lokhande during a national broadcast of the dance competition showJhalak Dikhhla Jaa;[33] both of them had participated in the show as competing contestants.[158] The couple began dating after their first meeting on the set ofPavitra Rishta, where they had been cast as husband and wife to each other.[159] In 2012, they began living together,[160] and reports of an imminent marriage between the two occasionally cropped up in the media.[161] In an interview, Rajput stated that marriage andcohabitation were no different and that it was hypocritical to treat the former as sacred and the latter as a crime.[162][163] At an event, he had said, "I am very transparent about my relationships. I mean I will not hesitate to say that I am in a relationship".[164]
In 2014, rumours that they were already secretly married due to family pressure[165] were denied by the couple.[166] In January 2016, Rajput confirmed that a lavish wedding would take place in December,[167] but the relationship ended prior to that, with the pair maintaining silence on the reasons for the cancellation.[168] In a 2021 interview, Lokhande said that Rajput wanted to go ahead in his career and they ended their relationship mutually.[169]
After the break-up, Rajput's relationship status became the subject of speculation and gossip.[157] He was rumoured to be dating hisRaabta co-starKriti Sanon which was denied by both of them.[170] In 2017, Rajput courted controversy when he came out in support of the producers ofPadmaavat whose sets were vandalised by members of theRajput Karni Sena.[171][172] That same year, he became the co-owner ofDelhi Gladiators, a team in theSuper Boxing League.[173][174] In preparation for his role inChanda Mama Door Ke, he was given the opportunity to train atNASA where he intended to go back and complete his instructor training, aspiring to be chosen for the 2024Artemis program. Retaining his interest in astronomy and astrophysics,[175] he purchased the high endMeade LX-600 16" telescope for stargazing purposes.[176] He also had a collection of 125 books including a six-volumetheoretical physics series. Rajput stated in an August 2017 interview that his collection was not for film research, but covered personal interests in multiple disciplines, includingcognitive science andbehavioural economics.[177] He was reportedly an avid reader who would bring books during tours for film shooting.[178]
In 2018, he was the subject of another rumour regarding hisKedarnath co-starSara Ali Khan.[157] The rumours were never confirmed, as, before the two supposedly broke up, Rajput refused to comment on the claims.[179] Later in the next year, it was reported that he was dating actressRhea Chakraborty and that they intended to keep the matter private.[180] When questioned, he reportedly unwittingly confirmed the relationship by stating that if interviewers asked questions that were only about him, he could answer at his own discretion but he would also have to ask "somebody" before confirming any details.[181] Chakraborty and Rajput were occasionally spotted on "dates" and outings in Mumbai,[156][157] and on a vacation to theHimalayan region ofLadakh.[180]
After Rajput's death, Chakraborty confirmed that she was his girlfriend and that he would refuse medication, relying instead onyoga andmeditation.[182] According to Rajput's father, the actor mentioned his plans to marry in 2021 but did not reveal his intended bride; Ankita Lokhande was the only girlfriend that his father had known about.[183]
On 25 July, Rajput's family lodged afirst information report with police inPatna, where his father lives, accusing Rhea Chakraborty and five others ofabetment of suicide.[192]
On 31 July,Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a case to investigate the money laundering of Rajput's money from his bank accounts by Chakraborty, her parents and associates.[193] On 19 August 2020, theSupreme Court of India allowed theCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Indian national government's top investigating agency, to take control of the investigation[194] and ordered the CBI to look into any future cases registered in relation to Rajput's death.[195] Later, theNarcotics Control Bureau (NCB) also filed a case to investigate drug peddling, based on phone chats forwarded to it by ED during its investigation.[196]
On 8 September, Rhea Chakraborty was arrested by the NCB in a drug case linked to the investigation of the death probe. Prior to the arrest, 9 others were arrested by the NCB in the drug case including Rhea's brother, Showik Chakraborty.[197] On 12 July 2022, the NCB filed draft charges against 35 people, including Rhea Chakraborty and her brother. The NCB claimed that Rajput had been using numerous people to obtain drugs since 2018 and accused his flatmate Pithani and others of "aiding and abetting" Rajput to "extreme drug addiction."[198]
On 7 September, Chakraborty filed anFIR against the late actor's sisters, claiming they had supplied him psychotrophic anti-depressants[199] without proper medical consultation and using a forged prescription.[200] She requested an investigation into whether these had resulted in his suicide or a decline in his mental state.[201] The following month, Rajput's sisters asked the High Court to cancel the FIR.[199] The Bombay High Court agreed to invalidate the FIR against his sister Meetu but upheld the FIR against his sister Priyanka, stating that there was "prima facie evidence" against her.[200] The Supreme Court also rejected an appeal filed by Priyanka Singh and the filing was handed to the CBI to investigate.[200]
On 22 March 2025, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a closure report ruling out any foul play.[202][203]
^Guha, Kunal; Ghosh, Labonita (10 June 2018)."Bollywood goes to the boardroom".Mumbai Mirror. Times Group.Archived from the original on 17 June 2018. Retrieved21 September 2020.
^Pereira, Priyanka (20 December 2010)."Jhalak grooves on".The Indian Express.Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved30 September 2020.
^"Post-mortem report confirms Sushant Singh Rajput died due to asphyxia".The Economic Times. 22 June 2020.Archived from the original on 11 July 2020. Retrieved26 July 2020.The police said that the actor had spoken to his sister on the telephone around 9 am on Sunday. An hour later, he had a glass of juice and took his tablets. The police added that the cook knocked several times on his door around 11:30 am to confirm the menu. When the cook and the actor's two friends who were staying with him in the house got no response, they then called a key-maker who helped open the door. The friends then rang up his sister and the police.
^Gupta, Saurabh (4 August 2020). Ghosh, Deepshika (ed.)."Sushant Singh Rajput Had Googled His Name Hours Before Death: Mumbai Cops".NDTV.Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved12 August 2020.'It has come to surface that he (Sushant Singh Rajput) had bipolar disorder, he was undergoing treatment and taking medicines for it. What circumstances led to his death is the subject of our investigation,' said Mumbai police chief Param Bir Singh.
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