I feel the people who were originally making fun of Sushant are insecure of him. A guy, who has no influence/big money backing, excelled in school, got into a top ivy league school based on his own merit.
People like Saif had money/fame backing for him to get a good educated, as did Sara, and Ananya (and please, we all know NYU & USC will take any celeb kid who's parents pay a healthy sum).
I think it bothers them that a guy who came out of left field not only has a good education, but made his way up from being a damn background dancer to a Hero in A grade films. He literally made it HIMSELF. That must've hit some people the wrong way, because you know, dusuron ki kamyaabi dekhi nahin jaati
Side note, his intelligence was real, not faltoo 'I read Jane Austen and do deep movies based off her books ' *cough* SoDumb
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