I found this very nice interview of Sushant .Don't know if this was posted before ..I will post it her if anyone is interested .
Sushant Singh Rajput is one lucky guy. He is unbelievably popular, unconventionally good-looking and with his impressive acts in Kis Desh Mein Hai Mera Dil and Pavitra Rishta, he has the entire nation swearing by him. Yes, that includes girls too. Girls go weak in the knees seeing his endearing smile, swoon over his easy-going charm and have lost their hearts out to his good boy act. Quite naturally, everyone wants to know if the telly world's latest blue-eyed boy is officially single or not. Rumour mills suggest that he is dating his Pavitra Rishta co-star Ankita Lokhande. But neither has ever agreed to the fact. Showtime catches up with the actor and tries to get him to spill the beans.
Ask him if he is seeing someone and he admits with his trademark mischievous smile, "Yeah, of course, there is someone special in my life." So is there any truth to the rumours doing the rounds? Is that special someone his co-star Ankita Lokhande? Strangely enough, the actor refuses to divulge any details and adopts a no-comments stance. "I really don't want to discuss my personal life. It's something I have decided from the very beginning, from the time I came to TV. My personal and professional lives are two different worlds and I don't want to mix the two," he says cautiously.
Naturally, his guarded reply raises more doubts than it clarifies. After all, he did not exactly refute the rumour with his answer. Prod him a little more on his equation with Ankita and he states, measuring every word a bit too carefully, "I am very comfortable with her. The first day I saw her, I thought she was very good for a newcomer. In fact, after seeing her, I got a little insecure because I was acting for a year by then, while she was only a newcomer and yet so brilliant at the job. Then I did stage shows with her and realised that she is a terrific dancer as well. And most importantly, she is a very good human being, very transparent."
There have also been talks of how he is extremely close to Ankita's family. Apparently, her mother dotes on him. He tries to wave the topic off with a simple and safe answer. "Well, it's a compliment that she is very fond of me. When it comes to me, she has this image of Manav in her mind, which is obviously not true. I am nothing like him. But she treats me like Manav. So I guess it's good for me," he laughs.
The actor is clearly in no mood to reveal anything more about his rapport with Ankita or her family for that matter. Which brings us to the next obvious question – what about his previous girlfriend? There were alleged rumours that he was seeing a model. "Actually, at that time I was doing Pavitra Rishta. And I used to be flooded with questions about my relationship status. Why are you single? Why are you not seeing anybody? Are you dating Ankita? Most of the people didn't believe that I was not dating anybody. Everyone was very surprised about the fact that I am single," he pauses. After mustering some courage, he confesses, "And frankly, I got nervous. I did not want to project an image that something is wrong with me or something like that, you know. So I just lied to people that I have a girlfriend and that she is a model. All that was not true. I had just made it up."
That's a shocker. Especially so because there were even talks of how his so called ex-girlfriend resembled Ankita. "All made up. There was no truth to it whatsoever," he states point-blank.
While his personal life seems rather unusual, his professional life has been nothing but smooth sailing. Pavitra Rishta is one of the most popular shows on Indian television today. His act as Manav too has been appreciated by one and all. And Sushant is more than willing to talk about his professional success and the adulation that comes with it, "It is very encouraging to see that the audience loves the show. A lot of hard work goes into the show, so it feels good to be appreciated. See, the character of Manav is diametrically opposite to what I am in real life. The character is so intense, serious and mature; he is always sacrificing things for the happiness of others – all these things don't figure in my dictionary. When I was doing Kis Desh Mein Hai Mera Dil, Ekta offered me this role. It was obviously very challenging. So I thought why not try it."
The dedicated actor that he is, he even did quite a bit of preparation to get into the skin of his character. "I did my homework after I took the role. See, I had to get into the mind frame of a guy from a lower middle-class family, of someone who is a car mechanic. So I went to a few mechanics shops to see how the people there behave – like they are very loud. Naturally, in the show, I had to tone it down. Also, earlier I had done a play for the NGO CRY and my character in that play was very close to what Manav is like. So I tried taking a few cues from there. Basically, I had to make quite an effort to understand the intricacies of the character, to get the mannerisms right," he explains.
This Delhi boy was launched by Balaji Telefilms after they saw his performance in a play at Prithvi theatre. Since then, he has continued his association with Balaji and is in complete awe of Ekta Kapoor. "She is very intelligent and unbelievably creative. When I had joined Balaji telefilms, they had over 10 serials on air and they were also doing two-three movies. But when I went to meet Ekta, she knew everything about my character on the show and was very clear about what she expected out of me," he recollects. "She knew every character from each of her shows. I was very surprised because it's impossible to be cued in on each show when you have so many shows on air. Imagine how busy she is. But she knows what's going on in each show to the minutest detail. Also, the way she understands what works and what does not work for the audience is just fantastic. Only Ekta can do it," he asserts.
An Ekta Kapoor find, he defends the idea of her being a task master. "See, you have to be like that. On television, if our show becomes a hit, we actors think we have become stars. We think we are the ones who can make or break a show. But we don't realise that there is new competition every day. It's not like a movie that you work for three-four months and then one Friday, your film releases and the reviews are put up," he pauses, "On TV, you have new serials and new ratings every week. So there is bound to be cut-throat competition. So people at Ekta's level have to be like that to make people like us work, to keep us grounded and to get the best work out of us. I firmly believe that's the only way to work on television. And it's a very good method adopted by her," he justifies earnestly.
Besides being a talented actor, Sushant is also a fabulous dancer. Something that everyone witnessed when he participated in the reality show Zara Nachke Dikha. But if there is one passion that surpasses his love for acting and dancing, it is direction. "I have always been interested in directing. Before I joined television, I was assisting Mohit Suri in Raaz 2. I used to even direct plays," he says. "I am scripting and directing three short films right now.
They are in the pre-production stages. Now almost 80 per cent of my focus is on making my short films. I'm not thinking about anything else. And once Pavitra Rishta gets wrapped up, I will not be doing any more television soaps. I plan to go to New York Film Academy and learn filmmaking. I want to make full-fledged films. That's my goal now. I've earned enough money, now I don't have to think about money for at least the next seven-eight years. Now I can just follow my passion," he confidently states.
Well, looks like the TV world will soon lose out on one of their favourite actors, but may gain a supremely gifted director in return. Not a bad deal, we say!
*By Eepsita Guha
Anupamaa
Pocket Mein Aasman
