Sushant Singh Rajput made his debut in films at a time when it was largely believed that cinema was not very accepting of television actors. Of course, there were a few examples like that of the careers of actors like Shah Rukh Khan, R. Madhavan and Irrfan among others who had made a successful transition from television to films but such success stories were few and far in between. Sushant had made is TV debut in a supporting role in Balaji Telefilms ‘Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil’ and later tasted stardom with his breakout role as Manav in the hugely popular show ‘Pavitra Rishta’ produced by the same company. The actor quit the show around the time his three-year contract with Balaji Telefilms came to an end. He was also not keen on being a part of a time leap after which all the younger actors would have shown playing the older selves of their characters. This was quite a bold move by the actor as he did not have any substantial film offer then. By his own admission, he was planning to go abroad to do a filmmaking course and was not really bothered about how leaving the show (and TV) would affect its stardom.
Several years later, Sushant maintains the same notions and believes he is in this industry for the art and not stardom or any other by-product of it. The actor, despite working consistently with big banners, maintains a low-profile and barely partakes in any personal PR exercise. In 2013, his film career had a very exciting start what with both ‘Kai Po Che’ and ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’ turning out to be respectable successes. He failed to maintain this momentum as a couple of his films did not do well and some got shelved (he dedicated nine months in preparing for Shekhar Kapur’s Paani which ended up getting shelved for the umpteenth time). The only major success he has had in the last couple of years was ‘M.S Dhoni The Untold Story’, which also got him an entry into the 100 crore club. While his only release of 2018 ‘Kedarnath’ was a moderate success, ‘Sonchiriya’ was a box-office disaster.
‘Chhichhore’ is director Nitesh Tiwari’s first film after the hugely successful ‘Dangal’ and is backed by Sajid Nadiadwala, one of the top producers in the country. While this is a relatively moderate budget film when one compares it to ‘Dangal’ and most of the other mega-budgeted films produced by Nadiadwala Grandson. Having said that, this is a film that is aimed at a family audience and as id evident from the promos, there are several elements that should help it reach out to a wide audience. Nitesh has earlier made family-friendly films (‘Chillar Party’, ‘Bhootnath Returns’ and ‘Dangal’) and each time, the canvas has got only bigger. The same goes for Sajid Nadiadwala who has consistently churned out films targeted at pleasing the family audience. While ‘Chhichhore’ is not as heavily budgeted as a ‘Dangal’ and does not have a superstar presence, it still has a good chance of scoring it big at the box-office.
Sushant has waited for a big success for a while and this film might just turn out to be a game-changer for him. The success of the film would also help the much delayed ‘Drive’ secure a release for itself and would bolster the prospects of ‘Dil Bechara’, the Hindi adaptation of ‘Fault In Our Stars’ which is slated for a November release.