Mumbai: Ever since the tragic demise of Sushant Singh Rajput, the debate around nepotism has opened up a can of worms as late actor's fans and admirers are bashing Bollywood bigwigs and directors for sabotaging the career of outsiders. Joining the bandwagon, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has now talked about how every newcomer seeks validation of big production houses. He also opened up about how Sushant Singh Rajput declined Hasee Toh Phasee to do Shuddh Desi Romance with YRF.
"Mukesh Chhabra used to work from my office. We, at Phantom, were making Hasee Toh Phasee. We started that film with Sushant Singh Rajput. We then went to Parineeti Chopra. I said here’s this actor, he’s doing Kai Po Che and then PK is coming out. He then went to speak with YRF, Parineeti was handled by YRF. YRF then called Sushant Singh Rajput and gave him a deal to do Shuddh Desi Romance," he said.
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He also added, "Sushant, who used to sit in my office, me and Mukesh used to talk to him. He signed up with YRF and dropped Hasee Toh Phasee – a film of an outsider. Because he wanted YRF's validation, this is with every actor, and I’m not holding any grudges. He was a very talented actor. It's all about the choice you make. He chose Drive over a film that I was doing. He chose Drive because he's been dying to work with Dharma. People are now using someone's death to drag everybody down."
Elaborating further, he reportedly stated that he approached the actor for the second time for some other film. However, the actor chose some other film over his.
He said, "Years later, in 2016, before the release of MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. I'd written a script, again Mukesh Chhabra went to Sushant. He told him that Anurag had written a script in which he’s looking for an actor/star who is based out of Uttar Pradesh. Sushant heard the script; Dhoni released, Dhoni became a super-hit, he didn't call me back. I'm not upset, I moved on and went ahead with Mukkabaaz. It's not like anybody’s upset. I'm so used to this."
Sushant was found dead in his Mumbai apartment on June 14.
