Rhea Chakraborty: Lights, camera action -- and it's a wrap?

It's been 116 days that a name has remained the cynosure of heated debates on various news channels. From page 3, she landed on the front page in a manner that no budding star would love to. Rhea Chakraborty, who set out to win hearts with her craft, ended up accumulating ever-increasing hate on social media and elsewhere after the unfortunate demise of her live-in partner actor Sushant Singh Rajput on June 14. After a tarnished image, will it be a wrap up for Rhea or there is a ray of hope after getting relief from Bombay High court?

Hyderabad: Actor Rhea Chakraborty is apparently getting acquainted with the comforts of the known surrounding of her home after spending nearly a month in Mumbai's Byculla jail. She was arrested on September 9 in a drugs case in actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death after deposing before three federal law agencies for over two months.

The days and nights spent in the cell of Byculla jail are standing stark in contrast with the life a Bangaluru born millennial lived in Mumbai and before that in various parts of India being a daughter of an Army officer.

From being a Teen Diva to hosting TV shows to making it to big screen

For the last 18 months Ms Chakraborty, a promising actor, who is now called "gold-digger" or "fortune huntress" was apparently an integral part of Sushant’s life. But before that many knew her as a budding actor who began her journey in her teens with a beauty pageant. After being a successful VJ for a youth channel, in the next couple of years, she made her big-screen debut with the Telugu film Tuneega Tuneega. Bollywood seemed a natural progression and she starred in over half a dozen Hindi films including her yet-to-be released Chehre which also stars Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi.

Love story gone sour

The actor was slated to star opposite her real life love in filmmaker Rumi Jaffery's rom-com had there been no lockdown due to the coronavirus. But a script was already written. Unlike Rumy's story that would have marked Sushant and Rhea's debut film together, this had a grim end.

Chakraborty started sinking into legal quicksand after SSR's father KK Singh filed an FIR in Patna on July 25. The FIR was filed after Mumbai Police had originally closed the case saying it is a case of suicide. Rhea and her family were charged with abetment to suicide among other charges.

Rhea Chakraborty being mobbed by media

Next followed the entry of ED, NCB and the CBI -- nation's three premiere agencies which are carrying out parallel streams of investigations in the death of SSR. Rhea and her family including her father Indrajit Chakraborty, a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Army, grilled for hours by the agencies.

Rajput's demise sparked off a huge political furore and triggered the biggest probe into the alleged Bollywood-drugs nexus, which led to the arrest of 20 persons, including Rhea.

NCB widens probe, Bollywood celebs under scanner

Sushant's death divided the film fraternity into two. While few milked the most unfortunate event to settle personal scores, few stood with Rhea when she was being "vilified" by the media and became subject of gossip, innuendo and misogynistic abuse on social networking sites.

On the day of her arrest, Rhea wore a black t-shirt which read, "Roses are red, violets are blue, Let's smash patriarchy, me and you." The quote led several celebrities in the Hindi film industry to decry Rhea's witch hunt and media trial. A section of social media, however, dubbed Rhea's arrest as consequences of wrongdoing.

Rhea on the day of her arrest

From the day of her arrest to the day of her release, the case that started with abetment to suicide is apparently derailed with the focus on "Udta Bollywood." Rhea, however, as said earlier remained at the epicentre in SSR case.

While Sushant's family, friends and fans are awaiting truth to prevail, Chakraborty's lawyer, Satish Maneshinde upon his client's release said "Satymev Jayate." As they say, "All truths are subjective," and SSR did not leave any suicide note, if it all it was a suicide, a closure seems far fetched at this moment.

Family, friends and fans of both, Rhea and Sushant looking forward to justice to prevail

For Rhea, normalcy will take time to make a comeback. But if the words of solace from Veere Di Wedding and Dabangg 3 co-producer Nikhil Dwivedi, who would like to work with Rhea "when all this is over," is not hollow, Chakraborty may take baby steps towards returning to -- Lights, Camera, Action!