New Delhi: Sushant Singh Rajput, who quit TV show “Pavitra Rishta” at the peak of his career in order to pursue his Bollywood dreams, says left the small screen because it was “suffocating” him.
The 26-year-old actor became a household name with his role of Manav on the soap but decided to leave the show as he wanted to do something new and gain fame and money in the process.
He is making his Bollywood debut with Abhishek Kapoor's “Kai Po Che”, based on Chetan Bhagat's novel ‘Three Mistakes Of My Life”, but Sushant says he hasn't left television altogether.
“I haven't said goodbye to TV, I might do it after this film. It was tough to walk out of ‘Pavitra Rishta' with the kind of money I was getting but it was getting suffocating because I was doing the same stuff everyday.
I am here for fame and money so I want new projects,” Sushant told PTI. The actor says after quitting “Pavitra Rishta” he was offered many lead Hindi films but it was “Kai Po Che” that interested him.
“After I quit TV I was offered 6-7 movies and all were main lead films but I didn't take up any. I read ‘Kai Po Che's' script in 40 minutes and I knew I wanted to do this film,” he added.
The film will see Sushant play a cricket enthusiast alongside “Love Sex and Dhokha” actor Raj Kumar Yadav, TV star Amit Sadh and “Aisha” actress Amrita Puri.
Sushant, who is half way through shooting the film, says he recently read the novel after director Abhishek asked him to and thinks the script is much better than the book.
“I read the novel two weeks back because my director asked me to. The book was a good read by the script I would say is much better,” he said.
The film is slated for a January, 2013 release.