‘Bollywood is about hypocrisy, discrimination, arrogance’: Koena Mitra on Sushant Singh Rajput being treated unfairly

Actor Koena Mitra has said that Bollywood is all about hypocrisy, discrimination and arrogance, about valuing a lifestyle more than films. She was reacting to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.

Actor Koena Mitra, reacting to the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, has laid bare the hypocrisy of Bollywood. In an interview to The Times of India, Koena said that the industry is no longer about celebrating art, but a certain kind of lifestyle.

Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput during an interview with HT, on May 25, 2018, in New Delhi. (Hindustan Times)

“Bollywood is no more about celebrating art,” Koena said. “The culture, fashion and lifestyle is more popular. Bollywood lifestyle is more popular than substantial films and then comes groupism and friendship where friends are expected to work for free. There are a lot of bread snatchers in our industry, so much that they will snatch the last piece of bread from your mouth and leave you hungry just to do favours to their camp. Nepotism, bias and gundagiri is there in our industry and has become a habit now.”

Much has been said about how Sushant was treated by the industry, despite appearing in acclaimed and commercially successful films. The actor died by suicide on Sunday, at the age of 34. Koena had previously called out filmmaker Karan Johar for his statement, in which he’d admitted to not being there for Sushant despite knowing that he was troubled.

“After people are gone they will come out and do dramas, crocodile tears, write essays, beautiful stories,” Koena continued. “But till the time people are alive, their bread will be snatched. They will write essays right now but will do the same thing tomorrow, there are many bread snatchers. And the biggest problem is they are scared of the truth, but they should be exposed.”

Citing the example of actors Shiney Ahuja and Jiah Khan, Koena added, “When Shiney Ahuja came out, everyone banned him that no work should be given to him. But certain superstars have also been to jail, how can they ban others? After Jiah Khan’s death, there were charges on Sooraj, but superstars promoted and made sure that he was running his house and working.”

Koena said that a part of the blame also rests on the shoulders of the audience promoting this culture. “You have to blame our audience also to an extent,” she said. “People are mindlessly empowering certain people, following certain cultures. There is mockery, judgement, gundagiri, violence, insult and people are following it. Without using your brain you are creating monsters and their behaviour will take away humans. Our industry has many such camps who are very good at bread snatching. This actor is good, remove him and cast other one. If someone is earning their bread, you are not supposed to snatch their bread. They should be allowed to grow.”

Sushant’s last rites were performed at the Vile Parle crematorium on Monday. The actor was known for his acclaimed performances in films such as MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, Sonchiriya, Kai Po Che, Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!, among others.

If you need support or know someone who does, please reach out to your nearest mental health specialist Helplines: Aasra: 022 2754 6669; Sneha India Foundation: +914424640050 and Sanjivini: 011-24311918

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