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‘YRF decided they didn’t want Sushant Singh Rajput in Paani, he had been rehearsing for 6 months,’ recalls Shekhar Kapur
Shekhar Kapur recently opened up about his highly anticipated futuristic film Paani and why Yash Raj Films (YRF) pulled the plug on the project.
Sushant Singh Rajput with legendary filmmaker Shekhar Kapur. (Credit: Facebook, X/SSR)
Back in April 2014, a report surfaced that legendary director Shekhar Kapur’s highly anticipated futuristic film Paani was finally set to go on floors after being in limbo for over a decade. With Sushant Singh Rajput replacing Hrithik Roshan as the male lead, it appeared that the decks had been cleared for the film — set in 2050, where people are reeling under an acute water shortage — to go into production. However, almost 12 years have passed since then, and it’s been over half a decade since Sushant passed away, yet Paani has yet to see the light of day.
During a recent conversation, Kapur opened up further about the project and why Yash Raj Films (YRF) pulled the plug on Paani. “I couldn’t even start Paani’s production (unlike some other films of Kapur that were shelved midway). By the time YRF decided that they wouldn’t cast Sushant, I had already been rehearsing with him for six months. After hearing their decision, I went back to the West. I had only come to India to do Paani. However, I haven’t abandoned the project,” he shared during a conversation with The Lallantop.
Kapur continued, “The agreement Aditya Chopra (YRF’s head) and I had was that he would wield the business control while I would have the creative control over the movie. Then one day, he called me for breakfast and said, ‘Shekhar, what I have seen at YRF is that, if I don’t stand behind the director all the time, things don’t run well and the film doesn’t turn out well. Hence, it has become my habit. But I can’t stand behind you like that.’ He was right, because our agreement was that we were making my film. ‘I probably won’t be able to do that,’ he said. That’s how we decided that YRF wouldn’t go ahead with the project.”
Mentioning that they arrived at the decision without any tension, Kapur said it was natural for them not to be on the same page creatively, since they are both successful directors. “It’s a simple matter. Since we couldn’t stay together creatively, it was decided that YRF would not make it. That’s how Paani hit a roadblock. But I haven’t abandoned it totally.”
In 2020, acto Sushant Singh Rajput passed away at his residence in Mumbai and Shekhar recalled that he was in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, when he heard the tragic news. He shared that he found him to be an “obsessive actor” but he did not know him in his personal life. “He was very obsessive about the role. I didn’t notice anything different in him. He was an obsessive actor. As a director, that’s what I needed. I didn’t notice anything else abnormal about him. That may also be because I didn’t know him personally,” he said.
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