Sushant Singh Rajput said he gave up Stanford scholarship to become back-up dancer in Bollywood: ‘My life went into a spin’

Sushant Singh Rajput dropped out of college, gave up a scholarship at Stanford to come and struggle in Mumbai.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s journey from Delhi Technical University to Hindi films was nothing short of inspiring. A leap of faith, the actor gave up his degree and a scholarship at Stanford to come and struggle in Mumbai.

Sushant Singh Rajput died on June 14.

This self-confessed nerd, in an interview to Hindustan Times Brunch, had recounted his story. Remembering how he would lip sync to Shah Rukh Khan’s Sooraj Hua Madham I front of the mirror, he said, “Honestly, even if I would’ve been offered a role back then, I would’ve refused because I was a complete introvert. The lip-syncing and posing would happen only in front of the mirror, with just me in the audience. I wanted to be the head boy in my school but, when I had to give a speech, I didn’t go to school that day. I didn’t want any attention.”

He refused to call the time spent before his Bollywood debut ‘struggle’. “Many would call the years before I hit Bollywood the struggling period but not me. I was not struggling. I was already doing what I loved. Then, I felt the need to meet a girl, and that led me to Shiamak Davar’s group. My life went into a spin from that point on. Instead of heading to Stanford University from where I had a scholarship offer, I dropped out of college and landed in Versova, in a 1RK (room kitchen) that I shared with six others. You can imagine the reaction at home.”

(This copy first appeared in HT Brunch in October 2019)