Sushant Singh Rajput is all spaced out

After spending 11 months prepping up to play Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Neeraj Pandey's biopic on the cricketer, 'MS Dhoni: The Untold Story', Sushant Singh Rajput is now completely focused on his homework for Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan's space adventure, 'Chanda Mama Door Ke' which rolls mid next year. He is playing an astronaut.

"The role would require me to acquire the flying skills of a pilot. I begin training on the jet flight simulator this week.They artificially recreate the environment of an aircraft. Later, I'll start training with space simulators. I'd also want to experience flying in zero gravity," informs the 30-year-old actor who will try to continue with his training while shooting for Tarun Mansukhani's next film with Jacqueline Fernandez which rolls in February.
Sanjay who has spent a lot of time at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) researching the film has recommended three documentaries as part of the prep-For All Mankind (1989) which documents NASA's 'Apollo missions', the Brit documentary, 'In the Shadow of the Moon' (2007) which is about the manned missions by the US to the moon and 'Overview' (2012) which features interviews of astronauts. "It's important for me to know the subject and understand the life of astronauts. These films will be a huge help. Sanjay has also suggested 10 books for me to read," informs Sushant.
The books include Chris Hadfield's 'An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth', James R. Hansen's 'First Man: The Life of Neil A.Armstrong', 'A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts' by Andrew Chaikin and 'For Spacious Skies' by Scott Carpenter and Kris Stoever. The actor whose home library is stocked with books on quantum physics, biology and mathematics, admits that he's hooked on the research material.
While it's known that Sushant dropped out of the Delhi College of Engineering (now the Delhi Technological University) after three years in 2006 to chase showbiz dreams, the actor reveals that when he was in the first grade he wanted to be a pilot. "My mom didn't allow me to pursue it then, but with this film, that dream will finally take off," he laughs.
So will he be visiting NASA in the course of this film journey?
"Sanjay has promised to take me and introduce me to his astronaut friends there," he beams.