A combo photo of Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjay Leela Bhansali arriving at Bandra police station.

Gulf Today Report

Sanjay Leela Bhansali was called in by Mumbai Police in relation to Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide case and was recorded over three hours at Bandra Police Station, during which time the filmmaker was accompanied by his lawyer.

Bhansali had offered not one or two but four films to actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Bhansali reportedly told the police that he had offered Rajput 'Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela' (2013), 'Bajirao Mastani' (2015) and 'Padmaavat' (2018).

The report added that Bhansali has revealed to the police that he had offered four films to Sushant, who backed out from three projects citing unavailability of dates. The three films eventually turned out to be blockbusters. The filmmaker added that he had offered a fourth film to Sushant but that did not work out.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali arrives at Bandra police station to record his statement in connection with late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide case.

While Bhansali had reportedly chosen Sushant for the lead roles in "Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-Leela" and "Bajirao Mastani", both of which eventually went to Ranveer Singh, in "Padmaavat" the late actor was offered the role of the Rajput ruler Ratan Singh, eventually played by Shahid Kapoor.

Till 2015, Sushant Singh Rajput was under a contract with Yash Raj Films (YRF) with whom he had done films like "Shuddh Desi Romance" (2013) and "Detective Byomkesh Bakshy" (2015). The actor had signed a three-film deal with the production house. The third film he was signed for was Shekhar Kapur's directorial "Paani", which got shelved.

Till now, nearly 29 people have been questioned by the police – this includes Sushant Singh Rajput’s friends – Rhea Chakraborty, Mahesh Shetty and Sandip Singh, family members, domestic helps, director Mukesh Chhabra, his co-actor Sanjana Sanghi and his manager too.