Aditya Chopra: ‘Ranveer Singh Was Offered Ram Leela Before Sushant Singh Rajput Signed Contract With YRF’

The handsome Sushant Singh Rajput was one of the most talented actors of Bollywood and the audience absolutely adored him. He left the entire nation heartbroken when he bid a final adieu to the world a month ago and fans were shocked to learn that he was reportedly suffering from depression. After his untimely death, rumors began doing the rounds about how he had lost many films and was being boycotted by industry biggies. Amongst all these controversies, police began an investigation and is currently questioning Bollywood insiders and the actor’s family.

On 18^th July, YRF head honcho Aditya Chopra recorded his statement with Mumbai Police and refuted reports of having any differences with the actor. In his statement, the filmmaker opened up about rumors which state that he didn’t allow Sushant to star in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela and Bajirao Mastani even though he was the initial choice for the film. He told ABP news, “YRF signed a contract with Sushant during November-December 2013 while Sanjay Leela Bhansali signed Ranveer Singh for ‘Ramleela’ in April 2013.  Ranveer was offered ‘Ramleela’ even before SSR signed contract with YRF.”

He further stated, “So there is no question of Sushant losing the film because of his contract with YRF. Sanjay Leela Bhansali didn’t approach YRF for ‘Bajirao Mastani’. Sushant also didn’t inform us about ‘Bajirao Mastani’. He didn’t tell us that he was offered the movie or he wished to do it. If we can allow him to do ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’ while he was in a contract with YRF, why will we stop him from doing ‘Bajirao Mastani’? I and my team always promoted Sushant.”

Aditya also denied claims made by filmmaker Shekhar Kapur about how Sushant had gone into depression after his film Paani was shelved. He explained, “YRF decided to cast Sushant in ‘Paani’. Shekhar Kapur gave his approval after YRF convinced him. We invested Rs 5-6 crore in ‘Paani’. The film got shelved due to creative differences. Sushant was later released from the contract. There were no hard feelings.”