Sushant Singh Rajput on Why Money & Recognition Are Not Success

Sushant Singh Rajput’s legacy is an unforgettable one.

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput had opened up about his journey as an actor.

(Photo Courtesy: Altered by The Quint)

Sushant Singh Rajput’s death came as a sudden shock to the world. But despite being gone, the legacy left behind by the MS Dhoni actor is an unforgettable one. He inspired people in so many different ways outside the capacity of an actor. May his words and all the wisdom he left behind, continue to add value to the lives of those who admired him.

Looking back at his journey from being a clueless student to a successful actor, here’s what Sushant had to say:

“I become an actor because I had a problem. I'm an introvert. I'm the youngest in my family and I was so pampered in my house that when I used to step out of my house, I didn't know how to deal with people. As an actor, I hide behind all these fascinating characters and then I'm confident."

"The biggest lie I was told was, money plus recognition is equal to happiness, is equal to success."

"I come from a middle-class family and when I was growing up, money was a big differentiator in my life and nobody in my family knew what fame felt like. So, I started out as a failure."

"I decided to take admission in Delhi College of engineering but something was missing, I could feel a void. The future me was much happier than the present me. I started preparing for Civil Services Examination and I was forcing myself to slog but I was bored. I thought of doing theatre and learn dance. Three years later, I was thinking I'm really interested in performing arts and all I want to do is to earn money and to be recognised so I should become a movie star."

"I was actually serious, I dropped out of college when I was just two semesters away from getting my Engineering degree."

"I got my first big break with a prime time show on TV. I started earning, people started recognising me. I would deliberately go and roam in these malls so that people could look at me and ask for my photograph. The show became popular, I was making good money to a point when money stopped being the differentiator. I bought my first dream house, my first dream car and then something unusual happened. I got used to everything and I felt cheated."

"I was promised happiness and I was promised success but all these things stayed with me for just a few days. I didn’t like this version of success."

"Looking back in the past, I realised that maybe smaller things were way bigger. There was one thing that was missing in my life that was the cause of this illusion and that thing that was missing was NOW. I was just obsessed with what's going to happen, frequently swinging between past and future, not living in the actual sense."

"When I perform on stage or in front of camera, I'm so excited and interested that there's no room to think about the future or the past. I was just there, in the moment. I was alive in true sense when I was performing. For the first time, trust me, in a long time I understood the true meaning of success, which was not money plus recognition but it was now plus excitement."

(The article is from The Quint's archives and is being republished to make Sushant Singh Rajput's death anniversary.)