Sushant Singh Rajput's Birth Anniversary: There were many of his dreams waiting to be fulfilled, but God had other plans

On his last birthday before his death I asked Sushant Singh Rajput what his birthday is. “That I should live in the present and make the best of the opportunities that come way and not worry about what I’d be doing when I turn a year older,” he had replied. Sushant left many dreams unfulfilled, not the least of them were the films that he invested in emotionally and which never got made. Salient among these broken dreams was Shekhar Kapur’s Paani. Shekhar Kapur came THIS close to directing this film and then moving away. Paani was a project that everyone was excited about. Producer Aditya Chopra had innumerable brainstorming sessions with Shekhar about the look for a futuristic Romeo & Juliet saga when water was going to be the most precious commodity on earth. Sushant Singh Rajput spent two years preparing for the part, letting go several projects including Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram Leela. To be then told that the film wasn’t happening, was heartbreaking for the actor. It wasn’t easy for producer Aditya Chopra or Sushant. Aditya took the painful decision to call off Paani because the project wasn’t getting anywhere. Paani was meant to be a futuristic take on Romeo & Juliet about a time when the water scarcity in Mumbai divided the city into two sharp halves of the haves and have-nots. While A.R. Rahman was roped in to do the music, Sushant Singh Rajput was signed in early 2014 to play the futuristic Romeo from the ghettos. Paani was supposed to start shooting in the last quarter of 2014. That didn’t materialize. It was then supposed to start in the beginning of 2015. As the two dates came and went, Sushant patiently waited for the project to start. Shekhar has been planning Paani for nine years. Sushant told me, “I had prepped really hard for it. I had no reference points for the character. I built it through the imagination. One starts on a clean slate with every character and find a centre to it. By the time you do you become a part of that character. Of course, you cannot BE the character completely because finally you are just acting.” After the aborted Paani, the second project of Sushant that got shelved was the ambitious space drama Chanda Mama Door Ke after its primary producers Eros International backed out of the project due to financial reasons. Sushant underwent rigorous training for temperature acclimatization at high altitudes to play an astronaut. One of the reasons why the project was taking longer than expected is Sushant’s training to play an authentic astronaut. He wasn’t satisfied faking any aspect of his character’s space odyssey. Sushant went to NASA to get a hang of space life. Chanda Mama Door Ke to be directed by Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, was a mammoth project and required a lot of pre-production and planning as it was a complex and VFX-heavy project. Facing a red-hot recession Eros International decided to move Chanda Mama Door Ke from the US to England, a decision that brought the project to a screeching halt even before shooting started. Sushant Singh Rajput who was an amateur astronomer in real life was keen to shoot the film at NASA and other parts of the US. In fact, director Sanjay Chauhan had written the script keeping NASA in mind. Sushant went to NASA to train for his role at his expense. After all this pre-shooting preparation when Eros indicated it might pull the plug, Sushant and Chauhan were livid. They wanted to close down the film rather than compromise on the location. Sushant’s third aborted dream project was Takadum. Known to get passionate about every project Sushant took guitar lessons to play a musician in Homi Adajania’s Takadum . Sushant had shared happily, “I’ve always wanted to learn to play the guitar. Now for Takadum I got a chance to do so. It’s like a blessing from the Gods to be able to learn a new skill.” The methods actor got himself a guitar guru to teach him the strings. The actor had laughed and confided that the string guru was not happy with Sushant. “He thinks I am learning too fast, that I need to slow down. Apparently I’ve picked up the seven basic chords in record time. My teacher keeps calling to express concern over my speed in learning the guitar. He wants me to slow down. I’ve always been restless. Even when I was in a relationship I would find time to be doing my own thing. Basically I am a loner. I enjoy my company more than anyone else’s. But I am consumed by one passion at a time. Right now it’s the guitar. Even now as I talk to you I am looking longingly at the new love of my life.” Takadum never took off . Finally there was RAW, an acronym for Sushant Singh Rajput’s Romeo Akbar Walter. To be directed by Robby Garewal, Sushant was to play a RAW agent in the film. Sushant was to spend time real-life RAW agents to get into character. There were so many dreams waiting to be fulfilled. Alas, God had other plans for Sushant. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and Instagram.