MANON A Assembling A vAried, mediA-Agnostic oeuvre, rAjput stAnds At the forefront of tsAlA ’s new guArd. his next move, Silk shirt, khadi silk trousers; both prices MISSION RAHUL VIJAY he tells vA on request, Hermès. Leather sneakers, ` 94,600, Ermenegildo Zegna Couture Styling chhibber, is to shrug

off the trAppings of Opposite page: Cotton and viscose stArdom, And heAd shirt, price on request, Erdem X H&M. Silk trousers, price on request, Salvatore right for the stArs Ferragamo. Silk blazer, price on PORUS VIMADALAL request, Boss. Leather sneakers, price RESHMA RAJIWDEKAR on request, Ermenegildo Zegna Couture. Brown wood cushion chi sofa, Photographs ` 19,900, Fabindia Art direction ELLE.IN 026 250th ELLE OCTOBER 2017 027 Cotton poplin tunic, ` 51,600, Wool jumper, price on request, Ermenegildo Zegna. Silk cotton Salvatore Ferragamo pyjamas, price on request, Erdem X H&M. Wool gaberdine jacket, ` 58,700, Shahab Durazi Porus Vimadalal

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ELLE.IN 030 250th ELLE OCTOBER 2017 031 hat’s the point of it all? It’s the question that Rajput says that being a Bollywood outsider is no Silk shirt, ` 24,500, Paul arrives like a pesky pop-up ad, startling longer shadowed by anxieties—to be better networked, to Smith. Linen trousers, us in the middle of a well-earned holiday fear the unforgivable box-office dud, to be permanently ` 20,500, Shahab Durazi or abbreviating the thrill of that 100th disarming off-camera. If anything, he reckons it’s the W HAIR: MILAN THAPA; Instagram like. What Sushant Singh Rajput effort of a small pack of outsiders, paddling hard to realised, much to his dismay, is that there is no ad-free stay afloat, that rids the industry of lazy, complacent MAKE-UP: VICKY SALVI; ASSISTED BY: SUJALA NEWAR AND upgrade available to even the rich and famous. “It’s a lie,” cinema. “Us outsiders are upping our game, and now VEDIKA CHOTIRMALL (STYLING) he declares, jumping forward in his chair. “You think: if [good work] is out there for everyone to see. As a result, I achieve that one thing, my life will change. Then you insiders have to up their game too,” he says, going on to chase it, you achieve it, and nothing happens.” rubbish the defence that star-kid privilege is rooted in In a conversation with Rajput, all roads circle back to audience interest. “You have to be extremely powerful an existential discourse. Whether you ask him about the or extremely stupid to say there’s no . Nobody challenges of being a reticent actor in an industry that cares if you cast a star’s son or not. If a film is good, favours the charismatic, or about what he learnt from people will watch it.” the end of his six-year relationship with TV actor Anita The irreverence Rajput holds for stardom doesn’t Lokhande (“There’s nothing to learn. We use a flawed extend to his craft. To perfect his mannerisms for system of cause and effect. We look at the result and Dhoni’s biopic, he underwent 13 months of training manufacture a cause”), or even the name of a book he under former Indian wicketkeeper Kiran More, studied recommends to his friends (“I don’t want to rob anyone footage of Dhoni’s signature strokes one frame at a of the joy of discovering something on their own”). Even time, and fielded up to 300 balls a day. This immersive a casual scroll through Rajput’s Insta feed offers a trail approach isn’t slowing his output either. He’s taken on of #selfmusings, such as, “We behave like mortals in all six films for next year, including ’s that we fear and like immortals in all that we desire. We Kedarnath, alongside debutante Sarah Ali Khan, Tarun must live immediately.” Mansukhani’s slick action drama Drive and Homi This preoccupation with making sense of a Adajania’s forthcoming musical Takadum. And despite senseless world, Rajput says, stems from a very specific delivering one of the year’s biggest disappointments, disappointment: getting exactly what you want. His is Raabta, Rajput’s credibility remains unscathed. the classic case of a Bollywood aspirant—except he got Reviews exempted the actor from any blame, instead the rare happy ending. After abandoning his engineering making it a point to commend his vigorous talent, degree, the native moved to a choked while directors swear by his nose-to-the-grindstone apartment, braved snaking audition queues and caught work ethic, including new buddy . glimpses of Bollywood A-listers as a background dancer The two found a kinship while preparing for Kapur’s

“YOU HAVE TO BE EXTREMELY POWERFUL OR EXTREMELY STUPID TO SAY THERE’S NO NEPOTISM. NOBODY CARES IF YOU CAST A STAR’S SON OR NOT. IF A FILM IS GOOD, PEOPLE WILL WATCH IT”

for . Two years later, he was prime time’s ill-fated dystopian drama Paani, which was shelved reigning heart-throb and the star of ’s after months of production. “We are both upset that well-loved TV soap . To test the early draft such an important film didn’t get made,” he says, “but of fame, Rajput made splashy purchases and popped the relationship has continued. I have three friends, so into malls just to be pursued by adoring fans. Then I’m happy to have made a new one.” came the sobering realisation that the thrill of driving Earlier this year, Rajput messed about in zero gravity a luxury sports car lasts about as long as finding your and became the first Indian actor to undergo training iced latte perfectly chilled. “I felt cheated. I thought at NASA. “I’ve studied these concepts as a student fame and money would change everything, but I didn’t of physics and maths, but the actual experience is know you get used to both pretty quickly. It started to get incomparable. When a spaceship lifts off, you feel about really boring and I thought: now what?” three-and-a-half times your weight.” This fondness His answer is probably what differentiates Rajput for the cosmos has carried forward in Mumbai, where from the rest of Bollywood’s new guard. An almost Rajput hosts quaint stargazing sessions, aided by reckless single-mindedness leaps out of his trajectory. his new Meade 14” LX600 professional telescope. At the peak of his TV stardom, Rajput slipped out to join And right now, the physics enthusiast is geeking a film-making course at UCLA. That was interrupted out on homework for his early 2018 release, Chanda by his breakout debut, Kai Po Che (2013), with a Mama Door Ke. less-than-ideal three-hero setup. Then, instead of On earth, Rajput has his eyes trained on the present. securing his position as leading man after Shuddh Desi He credits Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman’s academic Romance (2013), Rajput opted for a cameo in Rajkumar life manual Thinking, Fast And Slow (Farrar, 2011) for Hirani’s PK (2014), for a rumoured fee of ` 20. During curing his fidgety ambition. “His research found that a three-month lull after MS Dhoni: The Untold Story the primary reason for unhappiness is mind wandering, (2016), Rajput turned down lacklustre scripts to adapt and that means even imagining a positive future will Alberto Moravia’s novel The Two Of Us (HarperCollins, cause unhappiness. So just be here,” he says, snapping 1974), about a screenwriter’s relationship with his penis, his fingers for effect. “To be honest, I don’t know what for the stage. “I don’t discriminate between mediums. I to do with fame. I have much more of it than people I don’t think you graduate from theatre to TV to films. I look up to do, and much less than people I don’t look up can do a nukkad natak and be just as excited. Or do a to do… so I just focus on the acting. Future Sushant will

short film that never goes to a festival. I don’t care.” take care of himself.” Porus Vimadalal

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