Sushant Singh Rajput went mainstream, Rajkummar Rao became indie darling: Amit Sadh agrees he got ‘stuck’ after Kai Po Che success

He added, “People would say things, but that’s what they do. But if you start comparing yourself to others, you’re dead. And if you want to do a comparison, do a comparison of yourself, yesterday and today. With somebody else, no. Luckily I had the strength. I was living my life. After Kai Po Che, I went to London, I met a girl, spent six months travelling. I returned after I ran out of the money I’d made from an ad. When I came back, they asked, ‘Where were you?’ I said, ‘I was travelling’, and they said, ‘While you were travelling, others were working’.”

Some producers got upset, because they wanted to cast him in films that he didn’t want to do. “A lot of things happened, I’m not a cry baby. There were some people who went against me, just because I didn’t suck up to them, just because I didn’t gift them expensive watches. I didn’t know I had to. And now that I do, I still won’t. Why should I gift you a watch? I didn’t know that this was the system. But I was fine.”

During this time, Amit found support from producer Siddharth Roy Kapur, who told him that he was built for long races. Amit didn’t have a film release for two years after Kai Po Che, but went on to do a supporting role in the blockbuster film Sultan, starring Salman Khan, and has also starred in the web series Breathe, Breathe: Into the Shadows, Duranga and Avrodh: The Siege Within. Sushant died by suicide in 2020, which left Amit distraught and disillusioned.