WAS SUSHANT MEANT TO DOO THESE FILMS?MS PHOTO: PRAMOD THAKUR/ HT SIDDHARTH ROY NITESH TIWARI KAPUR
As rumours become rife about how Sushant Singh Rajput lost out on certain projects, we talk to filmmakers who are accused of having dropped him, or shelved their respective films; and also get experts’ views on the kind of mental anguish ‘losing a film’ c
Ever since Sushant Singh Rajput’s mysterious death, a number of films that the actor was apparently either replaced in, thrown out of, or shelved, are making news. The list includes Sadak 2, Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW; 2019), Half Girlfriend(2017), Paani, Fitoor (2016) and upcoming ones such as Saare Jahaan Se Accha (Rakesh Sharma biopic) and NR Narayana Murthy-Sudha Murthy’s biopic, among others. While Farhan Akhtar is now believed to be on board to play the lead in Siddharth Roy Kapur’s Rakesh Sharma biopic, rumours have been rife that Akshay Kumar may well have been the reason behind Rajput’s ouster from Murthy’s biopic that is slated to be directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, co-produced [and written by] by her husband, filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari.
So, even as talks continue to grow, we got in touch with a few of those films’ makers to get their take on the matter. At the same time, industry experts feel “not being able to do a film due to ulterior motives” can cause a “lot of damage” to an actor. As senior ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar puts it: “Losing out on a film is part-and-parcel of the business. But when you are emotionally and creatively involved in a project but lose it due to some kind of agenda or malice, it can make one feel
It’s disheartening to see such baseless rumours. We haven’t yet finished writing the screenplay, we haven’t even shared it with Mr Narayan Murthy and Mrs Sudha Murthy for their approval. Our studio partner is not on board yet. How could have we gone about casting the film (Akshay Kumar as Murthy)? I shared a fantastic working relationship with Sushant, and together, we celebrated the tremendous success of our hard work in Chhichhore. I’ll forever remember him fondly. Such rumours are not only doing disservice to Sushant but also to everyone who is seeking the truth. frustrated and helpless.” that the “impact of having For trade analyst Taran missed out on a film can be Adarsh, the “impact can positive as well as negative” vary”. “If a film — that an “It varies from person to actor can’t be a part of — goes person,” he says. Kakkar, on on to become a hit, he/she will his part, concludes by saying feel bad to have lost out on the that “the impact [bad or good]] project. But if it doesn’t do may be true of every industryy well, then the same actor will but things get pronounced in be happy to have dodged the Bollywood as there are only so bullet. Since an actor’s destiny many filmmakers/ can change with just one actors,” he says. film, every film is prashant.singh@ ROBBIE GREWAL
■ critical. But, for htlive.com ages, we’ve seen Sushant couldn’t do the film actors turning [RAW] only due to the date issues. down films or He had a backlog of his other films getting that had moved ahead. We needed replaced,” he around 40-45 days at a stretch for the says. film, while he could manage only Exhibitorabout 10 days. So, we had mutually distributor decided to move ahead, on good Akshaye Rathi terms. It’s not as if he was concurs, saying fired from the film.
The spokesperson for Kapur’s production house says, “This is to clarify that the late Mr Sushant Singh Rajput was not approached for the Rakesh Sharma biopic.”