Sushant Singh Rajput: I’m competitive in my own way, don’t believe in working hard

Earlier, Sushant Singh Rajput would be perturbed about the success and failure of his movies. When we had met him after Raabta’s (2017) release, he was upset as the reincarnation romance hadn’t lived up to expectations.

However, when we caught up with the 33-year-old recently, we noticed that now he is unfazed by the fate of his movies. He tells us, “There’s so much to do and you have one life. We all need to stop overthinking about things and just concentrate and put in our energies on the next thing that interests us.” While the Gen-Y star has as many as four films lined up this year with Sonchiriya being the first release, he doesn’t want to be called just ‘an actor’.
In a candid chat, Sushant reflects about his personal and professional choices. Excerpts…

You seem to be in a different space in life right now...

I’m in the right space because I love to live in the present and do what I like to do without harming anyone else. To me, that’s life. Thankfully, I have managed to be at a place where I decide for myself. I have plenty of things that I like already, so I allot my time to them in order to be happy. If I’m joyful, I can make people feel that way.

You don’t conform to the industry prototype for actors. You aren’t really out there as much as your peers…

(Cuts in) I don’t define myself with norms at all. We start conversations with assumptions that we are talking to an actor. That’s also partly true because I’m selling my film. But I’m not just an actor. Acting is a part of my life. It’s necessary to see where we are heading in terms of career and life, but if you are successful and you don’t have the time to enjoy the benefits of being so, then what’s the point?

Is it a conscious move on your part to not fit in?

I’m competitive in my own way. I don’t believe in working hard. If you work hard, you will be hired to do just that all your life. I have plenty of things I like doing and acting happens to be one of them. I’m grateful for that because I have always loved performing. It never means that I don’t take it seriously. I pay attention and my intention is right but it’s just my liking, nothing else. I also believe all of us are terribly similar but remarkably unique at the same time.

In most of your films, you have played complex characters. Why do you veer towards such conflicted roles?

If I’m paying attention and I observe, I get to see the conflicts and that gives me enough material to portray a particular character. But in real life, I’m not conflicted at all. I’m clear in my thoughts and my choices. I’m mostly peaceful — sometimes I’m happy, sometimes I’m loving it. It’s always positive, so I miss those emotions and acting is a great way to revisit them. Also, my job as an actor is to get people together. If I don’t remind you of somebody, then I’m doing my job well.

(Sushant Singh Rajput in Sonchiriya)

You are part of Sonchiriya which is a dacoit drama, a genre that hasn’t been explored of late...

It comes from the fact that I’m thinking about a human being more than an actor. I feel while these films are important where we revisit our past and remake something that we have already liked in a new way, all we want to do is to have a good time and take away something from the movie. For cinema to be aspirational or entertaining, we need to know where we are, at that point, in terms of what’s happening around the world. While the world has become a smaller place, thanks to the internet and social media, we are still losing our sense of identity. That’s why local stories have become so important and people want to hold on to them. The best way to do that is through entertainment. So, Sonchiriya is set in Chambal, which hasn’t lost its identity. Whatever evolution has come in the form of technology, that place has remained unaffected by it. So the interesting point is — why is it so untouched and what’s so unique about Chambal? That gives you the reason to make a film like this. Plus, you have a writer-director like Abhishek Chaubey who has layered it with multiple contexts, so that everyone can have at least one thing they like or connect to. Then, you have great actors to put his vision to celluloid and I don’t see a reason why people should be disinterested in a film like this.

The dialogues are in a particular dialect. Was that ever a point of concern when you shot the film?

This was discussed a lot. It wasn’t in terms of what should we do, but to get that clarity while we speak. It was never debated whether or not we will use the Bundelkhandi dialect because it’s a director’s prerogative. While the producers are thinking about making a connection with the audience, I believe that no matter how much we love the audience, we don’t know them individually. This film drives home the point that people want to hold on to their local culture and they are most definitely not like us which is why we are bringing their story. That’s why, it has to be authentic.

So, all the actors haven’t redubbed it in Hindi?

I was not a good enough actor to make all my dialogues clear. This film has been shot on sync sound, so, probably where I’m saying a line during an action sequence, it’s getting mixed. That’s why there are a few that I had to dub.

There was a time when you would get affected by the failure of your films. Does it still bother you?

Nothing stays, not even success. Somebody will tell you whether you are good or bad in a film. But you don’t need to allocate time for that or feel anything about it. Even if you’re a good performer, you need to think about the acting you have to do in your next film. Even if there are few moments here and there when we think about it, it’s merely course correction (smiles).