Before making his Bollywood debut in 2013 with Kai Po Che!, Sushant Singh Rajput began his entertainment career as a background dancer and appeared in two TV serials, namely Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil and Pavitra Rishta. His breakthrough came with Pavitra Rishta, opening doors for him in the Hindi film industry.
Termed him as ‘TV actor’
Before his debut film released, Sushant Singh Rajput was initially cast as the lead in the 2014 romantic comedy Hasee Toh Phasee, produced by Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap. However, actress Parineeti Chopra, who was part of the film, referred to him as a ‘television actor’ and declined to share screen space with him. Later, she recommended Sushant to Aditya Chopra for the 2013 romantic comedy Shuddh Desi Romance. Sushant eventually left Hasee Toh Phasee and signed a three-film deal with Yash Raj Films.
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Anurag Kashyap discussed the incident during his 2020 interview with journalist Faye D’Souza. According to the filmmaker, Sushant Singh Rajput was initially set to star in the film Hasee Toh Phasee. However, when they approached actress Parineeti Chopra for the female lead, she expressed reluctance to work with a ‘television actor.’ Despite attempts to highlight Sushant’s upcoming projects like Kai Po Che and PK, Parineeti stood firm. Subsequently, she recommended Sushant to Yash Raj Films for the film Shuddh Desi Romance.
Sushant Singh Rajput was replaced by Sidharth Malhotra in the film Hasee Toh Phasee. Despite this, both Hasee Toh Phasee and Shuddh Desi Romance, in which Sushant was replaced by Sidharth Malhotra and also starred Vaani Kapoor, proved to be successful at the box office. Sushant’s second collaboration with YRF was Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! in 2015. Unfortunately, his third film with the production house, titled Paani, faced setbacks and was eventually shelved due to creative differences between its director, Shekhar Kapur, and YRF’s head Aditya Chopra.
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