Writer Kanika Dhillon, who wrote Kedarnath, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan, believes that there’s no one who could have brought the character Mansoor to life the way Sushant did.
Reliving those times, Kanika says, “When I wrote the story, it had this really beautiful character of Mansoor, someone who is so pure at heart.
He’s a pithoo (a porter who ferries pilgrims on his back), who has this disarming and humble vibe.
Sushant being a star seemed like the exact opposite in terms of his real personality.
We had very few names in mind of the actors who could play that part well.
One needed the actor to break out of the mould of being a celebrated person.
One also needed to have a certain purity in their heart to be able to play a character like that.
We had a narration with Sushant.
Before that meeting, I had heard that his choices are unpredictable, and this was a classic love story, which I was not sure he would easily agree to.”
She further adds, “In my career, I have seen actors going through narrations and asking for time to revert.
They don’t commit immediately, but he did.”
Kanika says, “It was so refreshing to sense that he was living the story that I was narrating.
It was a complete delight to narrate the script to him.
He could feel Mansoor in his bones, he said.
It was quite an experience.
We sent the final script to him.
He sent me a message that with every reading of those 100-odd pages, he could see a new facet of Mansoor.
It feels so overwhelming when someone respects your effort in such beautiful ways.”
Recalling the effort Sushant took to get into the skin of the character, Kanika says, “He made the effort to read the screenplay a number of times.
I sent him about a hundred pages, he made notes running into 150 pages as to how he will play the part.
For the first time, I had come across an actor who could go so deep into his preparation to bring something on paper to life.
In everything that happened last year, we forgot to celebrate the actor that Sushant was.
You can pick any film of his, and a piece of him will stay back with you.
We stayed in touch throughout the filming of Kedarnath and the post-production.
I would hang out on the sets in Mumbai, where they shot the pre-climax portions.
Initially, I had also been on the sets in Kedarnath.”
Talking about the kind of work Sushant would put into his roles that would not be visible to others, Kanika shares, “In his bid to feel the character closely, he had changed the entire feel of his bedroom.
Usko aisa bana diya jaise usmein Mansoor rehta ho! I do my homework as a writer, but Sushant did more than his homework as an actor.
I have not come across another person who goes to such lengths.
The day I found out what he had done to his room, I knew no one could play Mansoor better.
Sushant, like his character in the film, left a void behind.
Sushant was the most perfect embodiment of Mansoor in Kedarnath.
I had hoped we would work together again, but destiny had other plans.”