Abhishek Kapoor directed Sushant Singh Rajput’s debut film Kai Po Che in 2013, which was a breakout vehicle for the late actor. Their second collaboration Kedarnath came out in 2018 that also marked the debut of Sara Ali Khan.
In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, the director spoke about Sushant’s grit and determination, and how the actor felt isolated when they collaborated for the second time. Kapoor said, “I remember Sushant being very overweight when we auditioned him and my condition to him was that, I showed him a picture of an American actor and I said, ‘You got to look like this because you’re a cricketer.’ He wouldn’t say much. He was not a man of too many words. But in 3 months, he worked so hard and he would be there at six in the morning for cricket practice, the gym training and by the end of it, he looked like it.”
During Kedarnath shoot
He was a bit disturbed in those days. He was a very strong guy mentally and physically he could take on anything. He was a great guy. I think he was finding himself to be very isolated and quite helpless. He was drifting away.
On June 14, 2020, the shocking news of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise came in front of us. The outsider, who had an inspiring journey from the small screen to the big canvas, enjoyed a good fanbase across the country.
Known for his candidness, we stumbled upon an interview, where the Kedarnath actor shared his thoughts on not joining any so-called camps in Bollywood. “There are camps, I didn’t know? Nobody told me. Clearly, I am not important enough,” said _SSR_ in an interview with TOI as per HT.
He added, “There are many numbers of correct things to do and they change. But there is one correct thing that stays correct all the time: If you happen to do your job properly and professionally, you take less time to add more value, you will be hired no matter whether you are an ally or not.”