Rhea Chakraborty recalls her time in jail after Sushant Singh Rajput’s death; talks of depression, darkness

Model-turned-actor Rhea Chakraborty recently opened up about her time in jail after her arrest by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a drug-related case following the death of her ex-boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput. The Bollywood actor was found hanging in his Mumbai’s Bandra residence in June, 2020.

Speaking on Karishma Mehta's podcast, the Bollywood actress, who made her film career debut with the Telugu film "Tuneega Tuneega", said each day she felt like almost a year inside the prison. Rhea also talked about the deep depression and darkness, she experienced in jail.

Jail A Strange World

The Bollywood actress said that jail is a very different world. A world where everyone is reduced to just an under-trial number, they are not a person. “Jail is actually a very different world because there’s no society in jail. There is a weird sense of equality. Everyone is a number, they are not a person. You are a UT number when you are in under trial prison…It’s a strange world, it’s a very evolved crowd. Because it’s just human emotion at its basic rawest. It’s survival. You have to survive each day, and each day feels like a year. It takes a long time for a day to finish because you’re literally doing nothing. There it is paused,” she said.

Rhea talks about ‘depression, darkness’

Sharing her first two weeks experience in jail, Rhea said it was very difficult as she tried to adjust. It took her a while to accept what had happened.

"My time in there was actually really difficult in the first two weeks to kind of adjust to this situation because no one ever believes that they are going to jail. Once you are in there, it takes a long time to understand that this has happened. There is a deep depression and darkness that I obviously experienced...You are really thinking negative thoughts now. I've always been a very bubbly, positive person, like delusionally optimistic," she added.

Fight against darkness

Recalling her fight against darkness, Reha said she started doing dance and yoga to fight against darkness. Speaking about other women inmates, the Bollywood actress said some of them had no hope remaining, they had lost hope in their lives and had given up. She decided to start teaching yoga and dance inside the jail and started classes for them.

Taking about his ex-boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput, she denied all the allegations levelled by the deceased actor’s family. It is important to note that Sushant Singh Rajput’s family had accused Rhea of mentally harassing him, taking advantage of him for money, and being involved in his death.