Vivek Oberoi remembers his equation with Sushant Singh Rajput: 'Didn't know such a happy-looking boy was hiding...'

Vivek Oberoi recently opened up on the necessity of coping with pain and loss and the importance of not keeping it bottled up within yourself. In a conversation with Prakhar Gupta, he recalled how the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whom he had known briefly, used to hide his pain beneath a smiling facade.

Calling the ‘Kai Poche’ star a “very young, talented and lovely boy,” he recalled, “I was there at his funeral, and I wished I had reached out to him. We often met at parties, and I would praise his work. He used to say ‘Thank you, sir,’ and hug me,” he reminisced.

“I did not know that such a jovial, passionate boy was hiding such pain. Had I the slightest notion, I would have gone to his home and tried to teach him how to cope with pain.”

He then explained that if you can wipe someone’s tears and help them lessen their pain, it empowers you. “The minute you are empowered, you are not a victim.”

Sushant Singh Rajput passed away in June 2020 at the age of 34, taking his own life at his residence in Bandra, Mumbai. His death quickly became the center of a nationwide debate, giving rise to multiple controversies.

Investigations by the Narcotics Control Bureau suggested that he had been sourcing narcotics through different individuals since 2018, leading to abetment-related charges against those allegedly involved. In addition, accusations of abetment to suicide were registered, and the matter was eventually transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

After years of inquiry, the CBI submitted a closure report on 22 March 2025, stating that no evidence of foul play was found. Rajput’s final cinematic project, Dil Bechara (2020), reached audiences after his passing, premiering digitally on the streaming platform Hotstar.