Was Sushant Singh Rajput the First Choice in Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani, as Kangana Ranaut Claims? Here’s the Truth!

Sushant Singh Rajput may not have left any suicide note when he took the fatal step. But the whole world seems to know who is to be blamed in his demise. People have become experts in both clinical depression and Sushant's life-story, knows exactly what drove him to die by suicide. One of such 'experts' is Kangana Ranaut, who may never have worked with the actor or got to share the same venue, but seems to know a lot about him. Kangana Ranaut Reveals Sushant Singh Rajput Was the First Choice for Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani.

A day after his passing away, Kangana released a video that blamed the nepotism gang in Bollywood and called Sushant's suicide a 'planned murder'. There were plenty of factual inaccuracies in her video, like she mentioning Sushant didn't get any awards (he did). And she also, for some reason, inserted her dislike for Gully Boy in there too,

Now in a statement to Pinkvilla, she claims that Sushant was the first choice for two Sanjay Leela Bhansali movies - Goliyon Ki Raasleela... Ram Leela and Bajirao Mastani. The publication quoted her saying, "When I started out, I had known how Sushant had a contract with a very big production house. He was the first choice for Ram-Leela and he was the first choice for Bajirao Mastani. He could not work on those films which went on to become very big hits. Then, of course, he had a certain attitude, he didn’t like sucking up to people." Sushant Singh Rajput: Dear Tweeple, Here’s Why Blaming Karan Johar, Alia Bhatt, and the ‘Nepotism Gang’ for His Suicide is WRONG and Insulting to the Actor’s Stardom.

She also goes on to describe Sushant's personality, but the writer doesn't know much about the actor and his mental state personally, so he is holding off there. But we do have some idea if Sushant was the 'first choice' (a notion that is often incorrectly used), something we gathered from the news reports, and not WhatsApp forwards.

Let's take each movie on its own.

Goliyon Ki Raas-Leela... Ram Leela

Ram Leela came out in 2013 and brought together Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone for the first time. And yes, the Romeo and Juliet adaptation is also the reason why DeepVeer is a thing now. It is also true that Sushant was in consideration for the lead role, and reports state that he couldn't take up the role, because he was in contract with Yash Raj Films. Something that Kangana got right. Well, partially.

But was Sushant the first choice? As per a report in Times Now, Pakistani actor Imran Abbas, who debuted in Bollywood with Creature, was the first choice for the role - the decision to reject the role remains a sore point for the actor (and a lucky break for the director. Imagine the outrage of the right wing groups if a Pakistani actor played 'Ram'!).

Perhaps, after Abbas' rejection, the role was passed on to Sushant who couldn't do it. But when the project was first announced, the lead roles were to be done by Kareena Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, before Kareena was replaced by Deepika and the rest is history.

Bajirao Mastani

Bajirao Mastani might have released in 2016, but the project was Bhansali's dream project for long, even back to the time when he was making his debut with Khamoshi: The Musical in 1996. After achieving breakout success with his sophomore effort, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Bhansali wanted to make the film with Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in the lead. Because of their breakup, that never happened.

In 2003, after the success of Devdas, Bhansali tried to revive the project with Salman, Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukerji (as Kashibai). However, the movie never took off, and everyone involved moved to other projects. After that, Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn were also in discussion to take on the role of Peshwa Bajirao. Ultimately, the dice again fell on Ranveer Singh to take on the role, with ladylove Deepika as Mastani and Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai. The film was a blockbuster at the box office.

Sushant might have been considered for Bajirao Mastani, we are not very sure. All we found in the archive was this source-based story from Bollywood Hungama, which isn't exactly very extravagant in the details. Whatever the case, Sushant was never the first choice, but Salman was.

Look, it is understandable that you want to respect the actor's spirit and want to honour the struggles he went to. It's okay to call out the unfair practices in the industry, if an actor has been mistreated and isolated, but let's do that with fact-based stories. Otherwise, your argument fails to hold any water, and ultimately, turns into a propaganda.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 18, 2020 10:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).