Sushant never felt victimised as an outsider, admitted he turned down more projects than he could accept

I don’t know where and how the nepotism argument entered into Sushant’s life and death. As far as he was concerned Sushant had it all and there was nothing more he craved for.

In one of his last interviews with me Sushant had said, “When I came into this industry there was room for everyone. As I came into cinema from the television industry, people predicted I’d be another Shah Rukh Khan. When I had some success people said I had started behaving like Shah Rukh Khan. But to me there’s no difference between cinema and television. As long as you’re true to your character I don’t think the size of the screen or the format on camera matters. I’d give all of myself on stage. Or even a street play.”

Sushant also admitted he turned down a massive volume of roles. “Very often when I know a narration is going wrong I still sit through it politely. Mujhe na nahin kehne aata hai. That gets me into trouble. Instead of saying no to scripts that I don’t like I begin to avoid the producers. Then they feel I am high-handed. An actor has to remember the primary reason why he chose the profession that he did. If every role that I do doesn’t challenge me then what is the point of being an actor? Every character that I’ve chosen has made me evolve as an actor. And I am lucky that my directors have shown so much faith in my abilities. There is always that sense of exploration and excitement .I am not bothered with whether my characters are conventional or not. Because I am not in this for the designer labels and the autographs. I don’t even want to go there. I am not saying that those who crave for conventional stardom are wrong in their aspirations. But that’s not what I want.”

Sushant was not interested in playing the conventional hero. “I won’t be comfortable doing the normal. If I invest six months of my life in a role the least I expect is to come out of the experience feeling good about myself. I won’t play the conventional role even if I get big money for it. Financial considerations are not an issue for me. If push comes to shove I’ll make my own movies. So far I’ve got the roles I wanted. If in the future that changes then we’ll see.

For me the bank balance is not a sign of success. I had made a wish-list of five directors I wanted to work with, and I’ve worked with four of them. That to me is success. Now I’m preparing another wish-list.”