Anurag Kashyap is returning to his rusty style of filmmaking with his next crime-drama Nishaanchi. In a recent interview, Anurag revealed that he had initially offered the film to the late Sushant Singh Rajput when he planned to make it in 2016. However, Anurag said that the actor stopped responding to him after he got two Dharma films.

In a chat with Galatta Plus, Anurag said that many actors in the industry knew about the film. “Actors have been interested in it but it never hit home with me with anyone. I said I will make it the right way. This was the film that I, at one point, wanted to make with Sushant (Singh Rajput). And then he got two very big films – Dil Bechara and Drive – they were both with Dharma earlier. Then my film was on a backburner. Then he stopped responding, so I then moved away. It was announced with him back in 2016,” he said. 

Sushant shot to fame with the 2016 biopic, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, after which he started getting lot of offers. In an interview with NDTV in 2020, Anurag had said that the actor dropped out of Hasee Toh Phasee due to the offers he got from YRF and Dharma Productions. “YRF called him and said, ‘We’ll give you a deal. You do Shuddh Desi Romance.’ Sushant, who used to sit in my office with Mukesh (Chhabra) and all of us used to sit together, he signed up with YRF and dropped Hasee Toh Phasee, a film of an outsider, because usko YRF ka validation chahiye tha (he wanted validation from YRF). It’s with every actor, so I am not holding any grudges,” Anurag said.  

Sushant passed away in June 2020 at his Mumbai residence.

Nishaanchi marks the debut of Aaishvary Thackeray and also features Vedika Pinto, Monika Panwar, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, and Kumud Mishra in pivotal roles. It is set to be released in theatres on September 19.