In April 2014, reports suggested that filmmaker Shekhar Kapur was finally ready to begin work on his long-delayed futuristic film ‘Paani’, a project that had remained stuck in development for more than a decade. At the time, Sushant Singh Rajput had replaced Hrithik Roshan as the male lead, raising hopes that the ambitious film, set in a dystopian 2050 where the world is grappling with an extreme water crisis, would soon enter production. However, nearly 12 years later, and more than five years after Sushant’s death, the film is still yet to be made.Kapur recently opened up on the project and shed light on why Yash Raj Films ultimately stepped away from the film. In a conversation, he revealed that the production was halted before it could even begin.“I couldn’t even start Paani’s production (unlike some other films of Kapur that were shelved midway). By the time YRF decided that they wouldn’t cast Sushant, I had already been rehearsing with him for six months. After hearing their decision, I went back to the West. I had only come to India to do Paani. However, I haven’t abandoned the project,” he said in an interview with The Lallantop. Kapur also recalled a conversation with Aditya Chopra, the head of YRF, explaining how their creative arrangement eventually led to the film being dropped by the studio.“The agreement Aditya Chopra (YRF’s head) and I had was that he would wield the business control while I would have the creative control over the movie. Then one day, he called me for breakfast and said, ‘Shekhar, what I have seen at YRF is that, if I don’t stand behind the director all the time, things don’t run well and the film doesn’t turn out well. Hence, it has become my habit. But I can’t stand behind you like that.’ He was right, because our agreement was that we were making my film. ‘I probably won’t be able to do that,’ he said. That’s how we decided that YRF wouldn’t go ahead with the project.”Kapur explained that the decision wasn’t the result of any conflict, but rather a natural difference in creative approaches between two established filmmakers.“It’s a simple matter. Since we couldn’t stay together creatively, it was decided that YRF would not make it. That’s how Paani hit a roadblock. But I haven’t abandoned it totally,” he said.Reflecting on Sushant, who passed away in 2020 at his home in Mumbai, Kapur shared that he was in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand when he heard the tragic news. The director described the late actor as deeply dedicated to his craft, though he admitted he did not know him well on a personal level.“He was very obsessive about the role. I didn’t notice anything different in him. He was an obsessive actor. As a director, that’s what I needed. I didn’t notice anything else abnormal about him. That may also be because I didn’t know him personally,” he said.
