HomeEntertainmentChandu Champion actor reveals Sushant Singh Rajput was the first choice for the film and not Kartik Aaryan: Story rights were also with SSR...

Chandu Champion actor reveals Sushant Singh Rajput was the first choice for the film and not Kartik Aaryan: Story rights were also with SSR...

Bhuvan Arora revealed that Sushant Singh Rajput was originally set to play Murlikant Petkar in Chandu Champion. After Sushant’s untimely death in 2020, the role eventually went to Kartik Aaryan.

April 19, 2025 / 10:20 IST
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SSR was first choice for the film Chandu Champion
SSR was first choice for the film Chandu Champion

A startling discovery regarding the original casting of Chandu Champion has surfaced, almost a year after the movie's release. Actor Bhuvan Arora stated in a recent interview that the late Sushant Singh Rajput was originally supposed to portray India's first Paralympic gold medallist, Murlikant Petkar. After Sushant's tragic death in 2020, the movie finally went to Kartik Aaryan.

Speaking to Hindi Rush, Bhuvan Arora recounted a personal encounter with Sushant at the airport, during which the latter shared his plans of making a film on Petkar.

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“Ironically, I did a movie Chandu Champion. Initially, Sushant was supposed to do it. He had the rights to that film. Story rights were also with Sushant. He must have bought it from Murlikant Petkar. Even Murlikant sir said it in one of the interviews. I bumped into Sushant at the airport and he told me that he was going to do a film about a paralympic swimmer. We both loved acting and used to talk to each other, we discussed on the film,” he shared.

Arora added that he had forgotten about the exchange until recently. “Obviously, it slipped off my mind. Recently, when Chandu Champion was released, I saw an interview of Murlikant sir in which he said that Sushant was supposed to do this film initially. I don’t know the details of it but ironically, that time I wasn’t there in that movie. Now, I was a part of this film but Sushant wasn’t there,” he said.