Saif Ali Khan Calls Out Bollywood’s ‘Hypocrisy’ on Sushant’s Death

Saif also talks about working with Sushant in the yet to be released ‘Dil Bechara’.

Saif Ali Khan talks about working with Sushant Singh Rajput in Dil Bechara.

(Photo: Twitter)

The sudden demise of actor Sushant Singh Rajput left everyone in the film fraternity shocked. Sushant died by suicide on 14 June at his Mumbai residence. His co-stars and other celebrities shared notes on social media remembering him.

Saif Ali Khan has now spoken about Sushant’s demise and expressed his disappointment on people ‘pretending to care about him’. In an interview to The Times of India, Saif said, “Such terrible news about Sushant, such terrible news! It's just awful. It just seems to me that people are somewhere gaining some mileage from this poor fellow’s tragedy, whether it's to show compassion or to show interest or to show some political stance. So many people are talking rubbish in this nonstop kind of barrage on social media and it's just embarrassing, really, I think.”

He believes that a day of silence and introspection would be better and more respectful towards the late actor that this sudden ‘outpouring of love from people who obviously didn’t care about him.’

Calling out Bollywood for its ‘hypocrisy’, Saif added, “We don't care about anybody. It's a very cutthroat line of work. But to pretend that you do care is like the ultimate hypocrisy and I think that's an insult to the dead, to the soul that's gone.”

“We live in an age where people write 10 lines for you on Twitter and will walk past you on the street - won’t even touch you or shake your hand. You know, you get wished for your birthday, but people don’t actually call you.”

Saif Ali Khan

However, the Jawaani Jaaneman actor doesn’t quite agree with the people blaming Bollywood camp rivalries for Sushant’s death. “It’s sad that film people can't think beyond films. We will all assume that this terrible thing happened to him because of his films. 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. If you can’t see beyond that, you will put everything on that – the movies you do,” he said.

On Working With Sushant

Saif has made a guest appearance in Sushant’s yet-to-be-released film Dil Bechara. He spoke about working with the late actor and his memories of him.

“He was very nice to me and he said he wanted to come and have a drink and talk about various things, which never happened, which I feel bad about. Maybe I could have, you know, helped in some way or not… I don’t know. But after working with him, I quite liked him because he was nice.”

Saif Ali Khan

“I think he had very refined looks and was very talented. When I met him, I thought he was a little on the edge. And he was a little, I don't know - I think he was looking for something. He was interested in the same things as me in some ways like he liked astronomy, and he liked discussing some of this philosophy,” adds Saif.

Talking about his daughter, Sara Ali Khan, who debuted opposite Sushant Singh Rajput in Kedarnath, Saif added that she is still in shock and very upset. He said, “She liked him very much. She was quite impressed with certain aspects of his personality. She told me he was very intelligent, that he could discuss, you know, Jean-Paul Sartre and he could discuss various aspects of philosophy and engineering and that he had learned how to shoot with a bow and arrow left-handed, and he was very fit as well as very hard-working, and a good actor.”