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Sabyasachi Bagchi: Former India captain MS Dhoni is shattered to hear the news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. It was the talented actor from Patna who portrayed Dhoni’s character to perfection in the biopic ‘MS Dhoni: The Untold Story’. The film’s producer Neeraj Pandey called up Dhoni on Sunday afternoon to convey the sad news of Sushant, who was found hanging in his apartment in Bandra.

After several phone calls and text messages, Neeraj Pandey finally responded to this correspondent through his secretary Deepak Singh. The producer of super hit movies like ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Special 26’, ‘Rustom’ and ‘Naam Shabana’ shared his emotions to Xtra Time in a brief conversation over phone.

“I am not in a situation to speak. I have been talking to the media since afternoon. All I can say is I lost a very close one. Ask whatever you want quickly,” said Neeraj from the other end.

The Howrah born producer was one of the first persons to call Dhoni. On being asked about it, Neeraj said, “Apart from calling Mahi bhai (Dhoni), I have also called two of his best friends Mihir Diwakar and Arun Pandey. They all seemed very upset with such a terrible news. Mahi bhai was in a shock to hear the news and got shattered.”

Dhoni was very critical about the selection of the actor who would play his role in the biopic. Sushant Singh Rajput was selected for the role. He spent almost 9 months with former India wicketkeeper Kiran More to master the actions of MS Dhoni on the field.

According to Neeraj, “He (Sushant) put in a lot of hard work to depict the character to perfection. We are grateful to Kiran More Sir as he worked with Sushant, grooming him for almost nine months. Even Mahi Bhai was spellbound to see Sushant’s dedication for his biopic.”
The filmmaker also shared a fond memory of his first meeting with Sushant on twitter. He wrote, "One day Sushant dropped in at the office and as I opened my arms for our customary hug, he surprised me by bending and touching my feet. 'Ab ye kya nautanki hai? ‘ ‘Sir dil kiya aur aaj se jab bhi miloonga, yahi hoga.’‘Khush raho.’"