Filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who is currently gearing up for the release of Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal is coming after the humongous success of Shahid Kapoor’s Kabir Singh, which was a monstrous success at the box office.
However, Shahid was not the first choice for the Hindi remake of Arjun Reddy. In fact, Ranveer Singh was approached for the lead protagonist. “I was continuously getting calls from Mumbai to do the remake. First, it was pitched to Ranveer Singh. I wanted to do it with him. But finally, he decided he will not do it, because it was too dark for him at that time,” Vanga told iDream Media.
The director also revealed he was warned against casting Shahid because of his previous films’ box-office performances. “Shahid’s track record was a concern; none of his solo films had done ₹100 crore then, his highest was ₹65 crore. They used to say Rs 55 crore, Rs 65 crore is the kind of business Telugu movies do. ‘Why are you doing it with this guy? If it was Ranveer, the box office would be higher’. But I was always sure about Shahid, he’s a fantastic actor,” said the Animal helmer.
Talking about Animal, the film is expected to emerge as the biggest opener of Ranbir Kapoor. Speaking about it, film exhibitor and trade expert Akshaye Rathi told Firstpost, “I mean, it absolutely has the potential to become Ranbir Kapoor’s biggest opener because it’s possibly the first time that Ranbir Kapoor is venturing out with as much of conviction into a hardcore mainstream commercial Hindi film. And as much as he’s had Shamshera which was a bit of an underwhelming film in terms of the storytelling and he’s had Tu Jhoothi Mein Makkaar, Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani which are all good mainstream commercial films. This is a movie that’s as massive as it gets and as mainstream as it gets. And he hasn’t had too many of those in his career. So I truly believe that this has the potential to go beyond Sanju, Brahmastra and all the other films that he’s done in terms of the opening numbers and not just that, also in terms of the lifetime figures because it truly is looking spectacular. It is looking like one of those films that can cut across the tier, one, two, three towns, the single screens, the multiplexes, India, overseas, everywhere.”