“Acting happened as one of the startups.” When Sushant Singh Rajput is around, meaningful one liners keep coming. Once an engineer in the making, Sushant has emerged as one of the leading young actors in Hindi film industry who could deliver more than just scripted dialogues. The former student of Delhi Technological University, who left his course in the final year to pursue a career in acting, hasn’t lost touch with the world of digits.
In Delhi to promote NITI Aayog’s digital payments campaign , the actor says that he will endorse the Women Entrepreneurship Platform and encourage use of Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) application by appearing in various video, print and social media campaigns of NITI Aayog. “I understand technologies really well, I also understand what you don’t get to learn in some of the best colleges. They don’t teach non-linear dynamics that much. They don’t teach chaos theory like they should.”
All for exponential technology to disrupt the market, Sushant recently launched his company Innsaei Ventures with Varun Mathur that will use emerging technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, 3D Printing and artificial intelligence. “We are trying to make a difference in the field of content and communication, health and holistic wellness, education and learning, and business incubation.”
All for cross pollination of ideas and aligning with the Nature’s R&D, Sushant brings competence, comprehension and compassion in one sentence. Can technology be compassionate? “Today, it is not about what information you are looking at, it is not about how much information you are looking at, it is about how you are looking at the same information. This ‘how’ is your own unique perspective. This how also provides the narrative and the narrative leads to different collaborations and variations,” he explains.
Talking about his collaboration with the government, which could be seen as a political move, Sushant says, “It depends on why you are doing what you are doing.I don’t need to think that all the people should praise me all the time. I am emphasising how you look at an idea will be the differentiator. I know that what I will say can be reinterpreted differently, which also should happen. If I am actually supporting non linear dynamics, different reinterpretations will only add up to the complexity of the entire system, making it more efficient in the process. We all know that Google Loon would give internet at every square inch on this planet by 2021. Then you have to prepare for those things with the government. The thing that is missing is mapping, the values, the meaning, which is like Yin and Yang.” If he has to bet his money on, Sushant says, he will bet it on two superpowers of our times. “One is the power of attention, no one is listening to anybody. We are all distracted and the second is honesty, it is so rare that it has become a superpower.”
In the linear world, it is dinner time and we meet in his room in New Delhi’s Le Meridien. “Usually I live up to my name...very quiet. But today I have spoken a lot; it has been a hectic day so I can cheat.” In comes biryani, pasta and a can of cold drink and we get talking. “On any other day, it is hard to find anything white on my plate,” he informs. I try to add colour with my bowl-full of salad but without much success.
Reflecting on how far he could go for his favourite food, Sushant reminisces, “I am someone who always missed his first period of drawing in college to have aloo ka parantha in Murthal. So if one could travel such a long distance for his favourite food, you can call him a foodie.” Indeed! He carries his love for food to kitchen and farm. “I can pretty much cook whatever is there on the table, and on some days I can cook better than this.” Even before I could question his confidence, Sushant remarks, “Someone once told me, the way you do anything, is the way you do everything.” Recently, he has invested in an organic farm outside Mumbai. “There is a lake in front, no pollution and cooler climate than Mumbai. I love star gazing, so I have bought a telescope. As the light position is so low, one could see the night sky clearly.”
Varied roles
As risky has become the new normal, Sushant, who initially surprised with his choice of films such as Byomkesh Bakshy and M.S Dhoni biopic , has a series of films lined up where Sushant will be seen testing himself in roles as disparate as a dacoit and an astronaut. “From Abhishek Choubey to Abhishek Kapoor, I am working with a range of directors. I don’t sit and predict trends. I am more of a verb than a noun.” The one that is making the buzz right now is Son Chiraiya where he is playing a dacoit. “It is a very real take on the dacoit of 1970s. It explores the mindset of these outlaws.” Talking of the treatment, Sushant says Abhishek hasn’t romanticised the bandits of Chambal. “You will feel it is so 1970s but at the same time it will make you ask, kuchh nahin badla, kya .” Sushant says it would be wrong to compare it with Bandit Queen till it becomes one, but, he admits, like the Shekhar Kapoor film or Pan Singh Tomar, it is very realistic. “It has a very European style of filmmaking yet very Indian in terms of dialect and body language. You will not find any half measures.”
Talking of Shekhar Kapoor, one realises that the two bond over a lot over Twitter. Both are in love with new technology and some time back Sushant was supposed to realise his thirst for Paani. “ That doesn’t seem to be happening. Paani, main aajkal kam peeta hoon,” he quips. Before Son Chiraiya, Sushant reveals, he will be headlining Tarun Mansukhani’s “stylish heist saga”, Drive, and Abhishek Kapoor’s love story, Kedarnaath , which is set against the flash floods that jolted Uttarakhand in 2013.
And what about his much delayed space saga Chanda Mama Door Ke?“ Now things have changed as I am producing it. It is about the first Indian guy landing on moon. We don’t just have to tell a good story; we have to make it right. We have secured a large portion of the budget.”
Perhaps the telescope is also a prop for the film? “Yes, we have acquired a Boeing simulator as well.” Some time back, Sushant made news by training at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
“Yes, I did. They also sent an email saying had they not known that I was a actor they would have trained me for another few weeks and that I could actually be an astronaut. During the training I ate everything as calories get burnt easily. But in everyday life I don’t take sugar and oil and try to walk as much a possible. Evolutionary Biology says that our bodies are made to walk 12 miles a day.” Yet another food for thought!
