‘I loved Shahid in Udta Punjab and Kaminey, so it was a no-brainer to cast him as Kabir Singh’

His debut film Arjun Reddy turned out to be a game changer in Tollywood. Two years on, the doctor-turned-director is all set to retell the same story again in Hindi. When asked what it felt like to remake his own film in another language, Sandeep Reddy Vanga says, “Actually, I don’t know why I made Arjun Reddy in Telugu. Probably because it is my mother tongue.But after the kind of response it got, I realised that the story I penned is universal and deserves to be told to a wider audience.”
In a tête-à-tête with Hyderabad Times, the filmmaker gives a low down on what convinced him that Shahid was best suited to play Vijay Deverakonda’s role, why he thinks Telanganites are a lot like Punjabis and how he doesn’t get perturbed by the criticism that his protagonist is an epitome of toxic masculinity. Excerpts…
From the trailers it seems like there is a slight shift in the tone of Kabir Singh when compared to Arjun Reddy. Was it intentional?
No. There might be a little shift in tone because first of all, the language is different. The tonality of a Punjabi in Delhi is nowhere similar to that of a Telugu boy in Mangalore. Plus, life in medical colleges of North India is completely different from what it is like here down South. So, Kabir Singh will be a little different from Arjun Reddy even though the story and screenplay remain the same. However, there are a few scenes that I filmed for the Telugu version but didn’t use; they will feature in the Hindi version. Also, I did chop down the length by 12 mins, it’s 2-hours-50-minutes-long now.
They say Telugus are the Punjabis of the South. It seems like you think so too, considering you chose to recast the Telangana boy Arjun Reddy into a Punjabi munda, Kabir Singh?
(Laughs) A lot of people disagree with me, but I personally feel that there are a lot of similarities between us Telanganaites and Punjabis. We are as loud they are, we love to party the way they do, drinking, eating and dancing away to glory. I could easily imagine Kabir Singh doing the things Arjun Reddy did. I was only worried about the dialogues, because I wrote them in Telugu and they were very colloquial. Here I had to depend on a writer but thankfully, it was a smooth sail.
What was the thought process behind casting Shahid, a 30-something-father-of-two, as a medical student?
I don’t know... maybe because of his previous work and because he’s a good actor. I loved Shahid in Udta Punjab and Kaminey, so it was a no-brainer to cast him. Plus, if we keep aside the fact that he’s been in the industry for 15 long years, to any outsider looking in, he wouldn’t look old. Shahid transformed himself to look the part; he even lost weight on his face.
Also, Kiara Advani looks nothing like Shalini Pandey...
Kiara fits the bill perfectly to play Preeti; she has the innocence and timidness we needed. She looks every bit like the junior Kabir would fall in love with the second he saw her.
How different was it working in Bollywood?
I had a comfortable time there. Working with technicians and actors there is no different from here. The only annoying thing about Bombay is that no one wants to work before 11.30 in the morning. The first day I went to office at 9, even the jhaadu wali wasn’t there yet. Everyone there is laidback, be it the technicians who do colour correction and editing or casting agents. When I would ask people to meet me early, they would look at me like I’m crazy.
Harshavardhan Rameshwar composed the BGM of Kabir Singh too. But why five different music directors for nine songs?
I have never worked like this and if I’m being honest, I was really sceptical of having a different composer for every song because the album as a whole needs to look balanced at the end of the day. But the balance is so right, it has turned into the best album of the year is what I’ve been told. It was a little tiring to explain the film five different times to different people, but I realised every composer gave his best to the song he was composing.
Arjun Reddy/Kabir Singh has been criticised as being chauvinistic… A hyper macho, self destructive hero who just has to have his way with everyone, even the girl he loves, isn’t exactly the perfect role model for young men out there...
You see, when you make art you always manage to upset someone or the other; it’s been so for centuries now. To be honest, I don’t even know why people call my film chauvinistic, but I don’t feel bad about it nor do I feel the need to explain. when I took Arjun Reddy to the Censor Board, a lady there had asked me why my character goes to different classrooms and says the girl is his. I asked her, ‘how is it different from a marriage? When a man ties the knot, he’s essentially saying the same thing, in front of many people. My film doesn’t pander to the male gaze with titillating cleavage and navel shots; no frame of mine is gratuitous. I honestly thought the Hindi audience and censor board would be a little more liberal, but it’s no different. The lesson I’ve learnt from this is that a director should always give himself time to deal with the censor board and the revising committee.
Will you continue making Telugu films?
Of course. In fact, my next film will be in Telugu, even though I don’t know yet what it’ll be about. I’m penning a crime drama too. But, to be honest, I don’t believe in the concept of being just a ‘Hindi filmmaker’ or ‘Telugu filmmaker’. There’s no longer a language barrier. A pan-Indian film is easy to attempt.