I like taking risks, says Sushant Singh Rajput

Sushant Singh Rajput has proved himself as a dancer, a theatre artist and TV actor. Now he is ready to take on the big screen, and feels taking risks has been fruitful for him.

Sushant shot to fame with TV show "Pavitra Rishta", but he shocked his fans when he decided to quit it at the peak of his career.

"I am the kind of person who likes taking risks. I quit 'Pavitra Rishta' because I wanted to go abroad and study films, but that did not happen," he said.

"I always do what I want to. I got all-India rank seven in engineering, got a scholarship from the government. During the first semester, I was a part of Shiamak Davar's dance troupe, during the second semester, I joined Barry John's theatre classes and in my sixth semester, I quit."

"I wanted to go ahead and pursue my dream because I realised that I love it when performing on stage or I am on camera," Sushant told IANS.

The 26-year-old is all set to begin his journey on silver screen with "Kai Po Che".

Sushant believes he is a performer - medium irrespective.

"For me the only difference was with the paychecks that I got. I have been a performer throughout whether it was dancing with Shiamak, doing theatre with Barry or playing Manav in 'Pavitra Rishta' and now in 'Kai Po Che'.

"As an actor it is just the medium that has changed for me. Everything else remains the same," he said.

Directed by Abhishek Kapoor of "Rock On!!" fame, the film is the big screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's book "The 3 Mistakes of My Life".

Sushant, who plays cricket enthusiast Ishaan in the film, says the script made him decide on to "Kai Po Che" as debut film.

"After quitting 'Pavitra Rishta' and doing 'Jhalak Dikhla Jaa', I started getting film offers. Among the seven to eight offers I got, 'Kai Po Che' was one. When I read the script, I just loved it. I auditioned for it and got the role," he said.

The film portrays the journey of three friends as they discover cricket, religion and business in their respective fields. Actors Raj Kumar Yadav, Amit Sadh and Amrita Puri will play prominent roles in the film.

Sushant says he read the book after shooting a major portion of the movie. So he has sketched his character according to the script, and not the book.

"I read 'The 3 Mistakes...' after I shot for almost 60 per cent of the film. I have read 'Five Point Someone', 'Revolution 2020' and '2 States'. This is the only book that I missed on and got a film."

"I have sketched my character according to the film. I don't know if it will be difficult for audiences to relate to my character with the character in the book. But when the ones who have read the book see the movie, they will be pleasantly surprised. The book is superb, but I have to say that the film is going to be amazing," he said.