Director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan admits back and forth on shooting dates is responsible for the leading man’s walkout
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 6, 2018)

Sushant Singh Rajput had kicked off prep to play an astronaut last year in director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan’s Chandamama Door Ke, even travelling to the US to train at NASA in August. Producer Viki Rajani had posted a picture of the actor in a space suit and announced, “The first ever Bollywood film to visit NASA for training.” It has now emerged that the actor now walked out of the film. Sanjay revealed that constant delays in the shooting schedules led to his leading man disassociating himself. “Chandamama Door Ke is a mammoth project, something Bollywood has never witnessed on screen before. Sushant gave his sweat and soul to it but back and forth of dates was frustrating for him since his calendar is choc-o-bloc. He’s under tremendous pressure from producers to release his dates for forthcoming projects, which I completely understand,” the filmmaker told Mirror, quick to clarify that it was an amiable parting of ways and that he wishes Sushant luck for the film that he is self-admittedly looking to direct soon. “Sushant’s passion for space and quantum physics is second to none. He’s also a perfectionist. Whatever he does is with 100 percent of his being, be it acting or direction. I’m certain that he will be as amazing a director as he’s an actor.” However, Sanjay clams up when asked if he is looking for a replacement or the film has been shelved.

Chanda Mama Door Ke was also to feature R Madhavan as an astronaut. Buzz was, Shraddha Kapoor had been roped in as Sushant’s leading lady but the actress had denied it.

Mirror had earlier reported (May 4 2017) that Apollo 13’s special effects supervisor, John Palmer, had designed an 11-layer spacesuit for Sushant, wearing which he had started training at NASA. The actor had said, “I wanted to be an astronaut but since I couldn’t figure out how to pursue it, I decided I’d be an air force pilot instead. But my mother didn’t want me to pursue these professions, so I started studying engineering instead but even then, I was hooked to astrophysics. Now, I’m getting to live my dream with this film.”