Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who received critical acclaim and commercial success for his two movies ‘Kai Po Che!’ and ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’, has bagged the lead role in acclaimed director Shekhar Kapur’s ambitious dream project ‘Paani’.

Internationally acclaimed director Shekhar Kapur, who has directed movies like ‘Masoom’, ‘Mr. India’, ‘Bandit Queen’ and critically acclaimed Hollywood movies ‘Elizabeth’, ‘The Four Feathers’ and ‘Elizabeth: The Golden Age’, said that he decided to go ahead with Sushant Singh Rajput for his dream project because he is one of the most "inspiring" young actors in the country.

“Sushant is one of the most inspiring young actors to emerge out of India. It’s going to be an exciting director-actor collaboration with him on Paani,” said Shekhar Kapur to PTI.

‘Paani’ set in a futuristic world where wars have broken out over water. Water is now owned by international corporations who use thirst as a weapon of control. In one such future city, a young love story breaks all the rules and in the ensuing war, water flows back to its people.

The female lead of the movie will be played by a young actress from the west.

The movie is co-produced by Shekhar Kapur and Aditya Chopra. Academy award winning music director AR Rehman will compose the music for the movie.

Initially, Shekhar Kapur was keen to cast Hrithik Roshan as the male lead for the movie but the deal fell through. Later Shekhar Kapur and Aditya Chopra decided to cast Sushant as the male lead as they were impressed by Sushant’s realistic performance in ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’.

The movie, which will go on floors mid-2014, will be shot in India and overseas.