Sushant Singh Rajput's On-Screen Deaths: A Coincidence or a Reflection of Cinema?

Exploring Sushant Singh Rajput's On-Screen Deaths

Did the beloved Sushant Singh Rajput find joy in portraying death on screen?

Having witnessed him pass away with a smile in numerous films, I once asked Sushant if he considered himself the Rajesh Khanna of his generation.

“Why, Sir? Did he enjoy dying on screen? I can't say if he enjoyed it. However, I believe that death is an integral part of life. Since cinema mirrors life, it should also depict death. That being said, I haven't specifically chosen scripts where the hero dies; it's merely a coincidence that my characters meet their end in some films. I aspire to take on more roles where the hero survives,” he explained.

Strangely, Sushant's characters met their demise in five out of the ten films he completed before his tragic passing on June 14, 2020. In his debut film, Kai Po Che (2013), his character dies, as do those in Raabta, Kedarnath, Sonchiriya, and Dil Bechara. Although his character in Chhichhore survives, he comes perilously close to death.

This pattern of dying on screen is quite significant for someone with a career spanning just seven years. The only actor who experienced more on-screen deaths than Sushant was Rajesh Khanna, who frequently portrayed characters that faced death with bravery and defiance. His death scene in Aradhana catapulted him to superstardom. In another iconic role in Safar, he sang a poignant song in Kishore Kumar's voice, expressing his love for life while acknowledging the inevitability of death.

Rajesh Khanna's relationship with death began with his breakthrough film, Aradhana, where his character, an airforce pilot, dies, leaving his pregnant girlfriend to confront societal stigma. He romanced the most stunning actresses on screen but ultimately embraced death.

Following Aradhana, Khanna built a career around tragic roles. In Asit Sen’s underrated classic, Safar, he portrayed an artist succumbing to cancer, showcasing his comfort with death scenes. That same year, he again faced death in Anand, solidifying his legacy by confronting mortality head-on. After this trilogy of tragic roles, he made a memorable guest appearance in Ramesh Sippy’s Andaz, where he dies while singing about the beauty of life's journey.

In 1973, Hrishikesh Mukherjee directed Namak Haraam, an Indian adaptation of Becket, where neither Amitabh Bachchan nor Rajesh Khanna was informed about who would die in the end. On the day of the shoot for the death scene, both actors arrived to find Khanna's photograph adorned with flowers, marking yet another on-screen death for the superstar.

In the 1974 marital drama Aap Ki Kasam, a narrative surrounding mortality unfolds through the song Zindagi ke safar mein guzar jaate hain jo maqaam who phir nahin aate. The remorseful husband seeks forgiveness for mistakenly believing his wife was unfaithful, ultimately dying at his daughter's wedding. This storyline echoed Ashok Kumar’s journey and demise in Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Aashirwad.

With the guidance of directors from the Bimal Roy filmmaking school, such as Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Asit Sen, Rajesh Khanna consistently crafted the image of a tragically doomed hero, akin to a post-modern Devdas.

In the 1974 blockbuster Roti, Khanna is shot at the Indo-Pak border while attempting to cross with his girlfriend, Mumtaz. By this stage in his career, Khanna was often imposing mortality on his characters. In several films post-superstardom, including Prem Nagar and Amar Deep, he struggled to bring his characters to a tragic conclusion, seemingly out of habit.

Interestingly, many of Rajesh Khanna's death-laden roles were portrayed earlier in his superstardom phase. Sushant too might have evolved beyond the tragic roles had life not intervened to end his journey prematurely.