‘NOTHING COMES NATURALLY TO ME’

Says Sushant Singh Rajput. Adds, he isn’t expressive and to portray any character is ‘complex’ for him

Sushant Singh Rajput completes five years in the film industry this year. The actor, who began his acting career with the popular television show, Pavitra Rishta, soon became a household name. From TV to then establishing himself in Bollywood, Sushant has come a long way. A mix of hits and misses at the box-office, he recalls his half-a-decade journey in showbiz. “During an experience you make more memories. It’s been great and the time has flown by too soon. These are the best experiences of my life and the last decade of performance arts in different mediums (TV and movies) have just been enriching. I shall continue to strive to create something personal and fresh till the time this experience of acting remains the same,” says the actor, whose last Bollywood outing was Raabta (2017).

However, today mainstream actors have multiple professional commitments besides acting such as brand endorsements, events, social initiatives etc. Ask Sushant if the box-office graph of an actor, in terms of the number of hits they deliver, influences their overall brand equity, and he says that it does have a direct connection. “Of course. If you give hit films, people decide that you’re saleable, and that you’re worthy of selling other products, apart from just films. The reverse is also true sometimes but that happens only when you somehow manage to make a killing through endorsements after giving flops,” adds the MS Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016) actor.

After exploring a romcom, a sports biopic, and the drama genre, Sushant’s next projects include a commercial action film with Jacqueline Fernandez titled Drive, and Son Chiriya that is based in the 1970s, and revolves around the dacoits of Chambal (Madhya Pradesh). Ask Sushant if commercial entertainers are the easiest genre, and if that comes naturally to him, and he says, “I have a hard time expressing anything when I am not performing. I’m quite detached in life otherwise. Nothing comes naturally to me. Any character — an intense role, a funny role, a sombre character, or that of an extrovert — is complex for me. But when I get it right, it’s an amazing feeling and is incomparable. That’s what I try to do in every film. My character in Drive is like any other, and is equally exciting for me. Commercial films also demand the similar amount of preparation as other films. Acting in front of the camera is the best feeling for me. And, for me, it would be right to think about box-office numbers if and only when I decide to become a producer.”

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT, ACTOR Commercial films also demand the similar amount of preparation as other films.