Sushant Singh Rajput: Kriti & I like spending time together

Sushant Singh Rajput gets candid on his love life, his first franchise, an upcoming trip to NASA and a reincarnation drama.

After his preliminary prep for National Award-winning filmmaker Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan's Chanda Mama Door Ke, Sushant Singh Rajput will head to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) towards the end of May for training for his space adventure. "We've yet to zero in on dates but I'm definitely going. I've always wanted to visit NASA and am looking forward to the trip," exults the 31-year-old actor.

Buzz is, the film has been delayed because of budget issues and also because Sushant himself has given priority to Robby Grewal's Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW). He refutes this, saying he'll start RAW only after he wraps up shooting for Chanda Mama Door Ke.

Meanwhile, he has almost finished Karan Johar's Drive directed by Tarun Mansukhani. "It's a what-will-happen kind of a film, very stylish, and the first of the franchise. It'll keep the audience engaged," he promises.

Before these films he has Raabta, Dinesh Vijan's directorial debut, coming up on June 9. It's a reincarnation drama and Sushant recalls how after Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! he had taken this script along with him to Goa. "The first time I read it over a pint of beer. I was wowed but thought it was the beer talking so I read it again and was again fascinated. The story is so believable that for those two hours even a cynic would be ready to suspend his disbelief," he asserts.

Prod him about speculations that Homi Adajania has ghost-directed the film and he informs that when he first heard the script, it was actually Homi who was directing till he was informed that Dinesh had taken over the reins from him.

"For me the filmmaker is equally important because it is his interpretation of the script. So when I came back, I got a narration from Dino (Dinesh) and I saw my character, Shiv, through his eyes. It was always his language on celluloid so I can tell you that Homi hasn't ghost-directed Raabta," he reasons.

The rumour mills have been buzzing about him and his Raabta co-star and he fanned the flames by taking Kriti Sanon for a drive in the Maserati Quattroporte that he had gifted himself on his birthday in January. "It's not like I bought the car and took Kriti for a ride," he laughs. "I had taken the car out for a spin alone the day it was delivered. Nobody clicked any pictures then."

He goes on to reveal his fascination for cars and bikes which started when he found a miniature Maserati in a pack of noodles. "I still have it and since then I've wanted to buy a blue Maserati. I had booked this one in January and had to wait for three months because I wanted one in blue," he says.

He's amused by all the stories about Kriti and him online which he discovered when he googled himself just to ascertain that he exists. "I read about this thing between us, then there were stories about a fight and a break-up and then suddenly, probably because of the Maserati we were back together," he chuckles. "They are all very interesting but untrue. We are good friends. She's an engineer and I was studying to be one too before I dropped out. We're both from Delhi, big foodies and like spending time together. Period."

Has he buried the hatchet with one-time mentor Ekta Kapoor, who was reportedly livid when he walked out of Mohit Suri's Half Girlfriend citing date issues and soon after signed Raabta. He denies any fall-out with the TV czarina. "She gave me my first break and I started earning and for the first time I was acknowledged. I respect Ekta who's creative, knows what works and has immense confidence in herself," he gushes.

Can she convince him to return to TV or give his nod to a web series? "I just want to act in a project where everyone is serious about their work. If you give me something really good on TV, I'll be back. I'm prepping up to develop a play in the next few months," says Sushant.