The Confident Craftsman

Sushant Singh Rajput sheds his reclusiveness once the camera rolls. And filmmakers are impressed with the actor’s ability to learn and unlearn

- Kunal Purandare

Sushant Singh Rajput walks into the intricately-designed living room of his apartment in Mumbai’s Bandra sharp at 4 pm, as promised. He’s dressed in a white T-shirt with sleeves rolled up almost to his shoulders, revealing toned biceps, and black cotton tracks. His moist, dishevelled hair indicates he’s just had a shower. It’s mid-April in Mumbai, with the temperature hovering around 35°C. The blazing sun has covered the vast stretch of the sea, visible from the actor’s 12th-floor apartment, in a golden shimmer.

It was in this unrelenting heat that Rajput, 31, had put up an electrifying performance at the Indian Premier League opening ceremony at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium a couple of days before Forbes India met him. “You saw it?” he asks politely, following it up with a “thank you” after I reply in the affirmative. He has just closed the production of his most recent film Raabta (it released to mixed reviews on June 9). He also has his hands full with Drive, Chanda Mama Door Ke and Romeo Akbar Walter, which are under production at the moment.

The stage has always been a happy hunting ground for Rajput who, by his own admission, was an introvert for the first two decades of his life. “I don’t talk that much, so when I act, it’s like an expression, a liberation,” he says. “When I started communicating and observed how people got affected by what I was saying or doing, it was magical.”

Today, the Bihar native—who has had successful stints in theatre, television and films—is regarded as one of the better actors in the country. His impressive debut in Kai Po Che! (2013) was followed by equally competent performances in PK (2014), Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! (2015) and MS Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016).