‘It became a show, I thought it’s better to go to jail’

Rhea Chakraborty was recently in a conversation with Chetan Bhagat where she opened up on life after Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise and her subsequent jail term. She said, “It had become a show and my life was on display. I was like, stop it. I thought, ye ho hi jaaye toh better hai (let it happen). Let me go to jail. So many people were after me, that existence was not okay for me. I preferred everything gets clarified, even if that means going to jail.”

On her jail term

She narrated, “Due to COVID rules, I had to be in solitary confinement for 14 days. I was the only one in the room. I was asked if I’d like to have lunch. I was so hungry and tired that I ate whatever was given to me.”

The Jalebi star added, “I started feeling grateful when I saw that many prisoners don’t have family support. Or they don’t have Rs. 5,000 or Rs. 10,000 for their bail. At least, I have my family and friends. I told myself, ‘You will get justice. You will get bail. You have not done anything wrong. I have so much to learn from these women while I am here. Why am I wasting my time sulking about what is not in my control?”

Last year in October too, she had shared her experiences. Rhea said, “Of course, it’s frustrating; they’re languishing, but they know when and how to catch that happiness. And it can be as small as a samosa on a Sunday. It can be as small as somebody dancing for them. So it’s just perspective; it’s how you look at it. At that point, yes, my life was in the worst hell it could have been.”

Rhea also said, “So you are basically removed from society and put as a number in prison because you are deemed unfit for society. So there itself, this personality or these things you’ve created about yourself are completely broken. I was in an under-trial prison, which means it’s not a convicted prison, and unfortunately, all the women over there were still innocent because they were not proven guilty.”