Sushant Singh Rajput is one of the rare breed of actors who are immortalized by dying young.One doesn’t know what his career would have been like had he lived. A year before his death Sushant had become unapproachable. Producers and directors complained that it was impossible to get through.
In a career spanning seven years Sushant did only ten full-fledged films and two cameos(in PK and Welcome To New York).
Sushant reminds us of James Dean who did just four full-fledged films and died at the age of 24.
What would Rajput and Dean’s career been like had they lived?
Says Sanjay Leela Bhansali, “No idea about James Dean. But Sushant would be thriving right now ,had he lived. Many major filmmakers wanted to work with him. I was very keen to cast him. There was an unbridled energy in his screen presence. I sensed a dormant potential in him.With his death, his full potential went untapped. Yes, there was much more to him than we got to see.”
Dibakar Banerjee who directed Sushant in Detective Byomkesh Bakshy remembers being staggered by his preparation. “By the time we started shooting he was fully prepared to take on the part of this Bengali detective , who was as far removed from Sushant as Bengal from Bihar. Sushant got everything right: the dhoti, the body language and the spoken language. He entered into Byomkesh’s mind to understand how a detective thinks.”
For Shekhar Kapoor’s Paani Sushant spent two years prepping. Once this writer asked Sushant if he regretted losing out on so many plum assignments for Paani.Sushant’s reply was revealing. “Not at all. I would do it again, even if I was told at the beginning that the film would not be made. In those two years I learnt so much from Shekhar Sir.He is an entire institution of filmmaking. Just being with him was a learning experience.”
Looking back one wonders why Sushant chose to lose those two years : he had so little time. He could have done at least two more films during the Paani break.
Abhishek Chaubey who directed Sushant in the best film of his career Sonechiraiya misses Sushant to this day. “Sushant’s untimely passing was a huge loss to the film industry and the audiences. He had a rare talent and a bonafide star persona. I will always miss him, both as a friend and a colleague.”
