As told to Hiren Kotwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 15, 2020)

The news that Sushant is no more is shocking. Yes, shocking would be the correct word to describe it as he was a person full of energy and enthusiasm. He wanted to do so many things, had so many plans, so when you hear one fine day that this person is no more, it’s hard to believe. I had to call a few friends to check if the speculation was true. Turned out it was a sad reality. And that made it even more shocking.

I knew him before we collaborated on Chhichhore through common friends. I had met him on a few occasions before we started working together and grew close during the making of the film. He was like a younger brother to Ashwiny (Iyer Tiwari, wife and director) and me; so full of life and excited about the projects he was doing. He wanted to launch some things. We exchanged messages around 10 days ago. It was just a casual chat; he enquired about Ashwiny and our kids and I asked him how he was doing. He shared that he was learning coding and I told him that my son, Aaradhya, was learning it too. As always, we ended our chat saying, “Keep in touch.”