Anurag Kashyap Says Sushant Singh Rajput Wanted Validation From YRF, Was Dying To Work With Dharma

Sushant Singh Rajput’s untimely demise came as a shock to the nation and soon rumors began doing the rounds about how he was shut out from the industry by the ‘self-appointed gatekeepers’. It is being said that he lost projects and was also boycotted by Bollywood biggies, which eventually became the reason for his depression. Now in a recent interview, popular filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has revealed that there were times that he, also an ‘outsider’, wanted to work with the actor, but Sushant chose to do films with bigger banners such as Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and Yash Raj Films instead.

In a chat with NDTV, the filmmaker recalled the first time he met Sushant, soon after he had finished deciding the cast for his film Gangs of Wasseypur. Back then casting director Mukesh Chhabra, the director of Sushant’s last film Dil Bechara, used to operate from Anurag’s office. The filmmaker saw the actor and told him he would have offered him work in his upcoming film if they had met before. In fact, Anurag also recommended his name to Kai Po Che director Abhishek Kapoor.

The filmmaker further revealed that his 2009 romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee, which featured Parineeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra, was originally set up with Sushant. However, things didn’t go as planned because the actor opted for YRF’s Shuddh Desi Romance. Kashyap shared, “YRF called him and said, ‘We’ll give you a deal. You do Shuddh Desi Romance.’ Sushant, who used to sit in my office with Mukesh and all of us used to sit together, signed up with YRF and dropped Hasee Toh Phasee, a film of an outsider because usko validation YRF ka chahiye tha. It’s with every actor, so I am not holding any grudges.”

In 2016, Anurag wanted to work with Sushant again and offered him a film before the release of MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. He shared, “Mukesh took my script to Sushant. Sushant heard the script, Dhoni released and became a super hit. He didn’t call me back. It’s not like anybody’s upset. I’m so used to this. Because in this industry, when outsiders come in, they seek validation. And one can’t blame you, it is a choice that you have made.” Anurag went on to reveal that Sushant was more keen to work with KJo’s Dharma Productions and added, “It’s a choice you have made but you also have to deal with this. The boy was very talented but at that time, he chose Drive over a film that I was doing because he was dying to work with Dharma.”

Starring Sushant and Jacqueline Fernandez, Karan Johar’s action thriller heist Drive was directly released on streaming giant Netflix on 1^st November 2019.