A lot has been written and said about a number of people post Sushant's death by suicide. While people like Ankita Lokhande are being hailed as someone who could have stopped him from taking his own life, there are many who are blaming his rumored girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty for driving him to this point. Amidst all this, Rhea's equation with director Mahesh Bhatt has come under the scanner. Reason? An old photo which has again gone viral.

It all started with this viral picture

Sharing a series of pictures with the director, whom she was working with during Jalebi, Rhea had written, "Happy birthday to my Buddha @maheshfilm. Sir , this is us - you held me with love , you showed me love , and you have unclipped my wings forever , you are the "heart hitting" fire that ignites every soul it comes by ! Words fail me I love you" (sic)

Rhea Chakraborty trolled for pictures with Mahesh Bhatt
Rhea Chakraborty trolled for pictures with Mahesh BhattRhea Chakraborty Instagram

Trolling

Soon after the picture made its way to the internet, social media was flooded with negative and unsavoury comments about their relationship. While few compared them to the modern day – Anup Jalota and Jasleen Matharu, many found the pictures inappropriate. 'Sick', 'Pervert', 'Incest', 'Wrong', 'Immoral', 'Golddigger' were some of the comments made on the picture. However, there was another section that asked everyone not to read more into it other than what it was. People also equated Mahesh's pictures with Rhea to those of him kissing his own daughter, Pooja Bhatt, and saying that had she not been his daughter, he would have loved to marry her.

Rhea Chakraborty and Sushant Singh Rajput
Rhea Chakraborty and Sushant Singh RajputTwitter

Rhea's defense

Defending the pictures and slamming the trolls for their 'sick' mindset, Rhea had then taken to social media and written, "Tu kaun hain , Tera naam hain kya? Seeta bhi yahaan badnaam hui ! If the trolls can hurl muck and filth of their minds , which comes out of their depraved souls , then all our claims of having moved away from the dark ages are bogus. Go enjoy your sickness."

Mahesh's stance

On the other hand, Mahesh Bhatt had openly said that he had asked Rhea not to be ashamed of those pictures as it reflects the 'infected' mindset trolls have. He also said that it is the trolls who should be ashamed of writing such things and that he can't make the world think like him.

Sushant Singh Rajput and Rhea Chakraborty
Sushant Singh Rajput and Rhea Chakraborty

Mahesh, Rhea and Sushant

Ever since, Sushant Singh's tragic demise, there are two things that have brought Rhea – Mahesh's equation under the spotlight – their old picture and the fact that Rhea Chakraborty had confided in Mahesh Bhatt about Sushant's deteriorating mental health, who then had asked her to leave. Mahesh Bhatt even compared Sushant to his ex-lover Parveen Babi and revealed that he too had 'started hearing voices'.

Ever since the revelation, netizens have gone into a tizzy. The fact that Rhea was confiding in Mahesh Bhatt something as personal as the intricacies of her relationship with Sushant Singh and his deteriorating mental health, has come across as a huge shock to many social media and netizens are finding it difficult to digest. And all of this certainly hasn't gone well with the any of the 'woke' social media activists either.

Well, after everything that's come to light, many might argue that Mahesh and Rhea's picture didn't seem ordinary. But then, when has Mahesh Bhatt been conventional and given you what you expected of him? Isn't he a man who is known for giving up all his might for the ones he loves and breathing fire over those he doesn't? When was the last time Bhatt limited himself to the norms of the society? When was the last time he didn't challenge our own conflicted, restrained world of do's and don't's? The fact that Rhea posted these photos without any hesitation or inhibitions prove that there was no guilty conscience at all, there was no wrongdoing. And who are we to put a tag on this relationship at the end of the day, right?

However, we do feel that making claims on Sushant's aggravating mental health issues and portraying him as an object of pity, that too when he is not here to defend himself, is not a done deal at all. There are aspects of his life which deserve respect and silence. At least two minutes of it!