Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; July 19, 2020)

The last month, following actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s demise, has been difficult for many in the industry, and perhaps a bit more for casting director, Mukesh Chhabra. A close friend and “like a brother” to the late actor, Chhabra turned director with a film starring Rajput and has been working on “finishing it for the last few weeks”.

He says, “It was so difficult to work on the film. Right now, I don’t know what I am feeling, if I should be happy or sad. There are a lot of mixed emotions and I don’t know how to react to situations now. It is bittersweet, perhaps. For me, the meaning of the film has changed as he is gone.” Chhabra’s debut directorial Dil Bechara, starring Rajput and newbie Sanjana Sanghi, is a remake of the Hollywood film The Fault In Our Stars (2014).

The director tells us that the last time they spoke was on Chhabra’s birthday in May. “We had a normal conversation. I didn’t know that he had any issues (regarding mental health),” he shares. Ask him about the theories regarding Rajput’s death and demands for a CBI inquiry, and the director replies, “I haven’t been on social media much. The investigation is on, and will take its course. My focus is to do justice to Sushant’s last film.”

While fans have been asking for a theatrical release for the film, Chhabra feels releasing on an OTT platform is the best decision as “everyone can watch it”. “Times are such that every other film is releasing on OTT... At the end of the day, why do we make films? So that maximum number of people watch it. Ab wohi hoga. For another one year, there’s no chance of going to the theatres, I feel,” asserts the director.