Sushant Singh Rajput, Akshay Kumar
Pictured: Sushant Singh Rajput at MS Dhoni: The Untold Story promotions; Akshay Kumar at an event.Varinder Chawla

The success of M S Dhoni: The Untold Story is working out pretty well for Sushant Singh Rajput. The young actor has not only been offered good roles, but is also preferred over superstars.

A few months ago, director Omung Kumar announced his psychological thriller — Five — with Akshay Kumar. Now reports have emerged that Rajput has replaced the Rustom star. "Sushant has a packed diary for the next one year, but he decided to squeeze in Omung's film since he liked the script," an insider informed Mid-Day.

Five was to kick-start by the end of this year, but will now begin only mid-2017. "It will be shot across various locations in London. Casting for the female lead is underway, but it is the sort of film where the spotlight is on the hero," the source elaborated.

Backed by Sandeep Singh, Five will have Jeet Ganguli, Mithoon, and Amaal Mallik as music composers. The makers of Five are quiet on the new development and have maintained a "no comment" stance.

Here's hoping this project doesn't get put in the back burner like Shekhar Kapur's Paani. For this film, he had prepared extensively but it never took off for reasons best known to the makers. The actor had rejected quite a few films while learning more about Paani.

"The time I spent with Shekhar was like doing 10 years of an acting course. It was the most exciting period of my career as it was an ambitious project. I regret that it's not happening, it taught me a lot and made me mature as an actor," he told the daily a late September.

However, things are looking bright and promising for Rajput at the moment. He will also be seen in Homi Adajania's Raabta alongside Kriti Sanon.