Sushant Singh Rajput’s tragic death left Bollywood shocked with heart-felt tributes pouring in from those who worked with the actor and Kedarnath writer Kanika Dhillon is one among them. Ms Dhillon gave us an insight into Sushant Singh Rajput as an actor as was seen on set, writing about his dedication not only towards his craft but also towards a film. Kanika Dhillon wrote that Sushant had added notes and ideas to the script of Kedarnath, converting the original 100-page script into 300-pages of material.
“I noticed that my 100 page script of Kedarnath had swollen into a 300 page novel as I saw Sushant carrying it. I asked him ‘What have you done? Added scenes to it?’ He smiled earnestly and simply said – ‘I made my notes and attached them. I read scenes every day and find a new meaning – a new take and I add it to the page’.”
In her post, Kanika Dhillon added that what defined Sushant as an actor was “sheer hardwork and relentless focus”: “I’d never seen such dedication or method applied to this craft before. All actors have their ways that work for them – but sheer hardwork and relentless focus was his. I felt acutely aware of every word I wrote in that script… cos I was aware Sushant would be reading it over and over and toiling over it to bring forth the best interpretation of the written words effortlessly.”
Directed by Abhishek Kapoor, 2018 film Kedarnath was set against the backdrop of the 2013 Kedarnath floods, in which 4,000 people died and thousands went missing. Sushant Singh Rajput was cast as a Muslim porter named Mansoor, who died in a landslide but managed to save Mukku, his love interest, played by Sara Ali Khan. Referring to Sushant’s character in Kedarnath, Ms Dhillon wrote: “I make sense of you going away just like Mansoor did – Mansoor who left us all – too soon- with a disarming smile – with an unfinished love story that somehow was complete in his head… and so did you.”
