Sandeep Reddy Vanga Reveals Sai Pallavi Was First Choice For 'Arjun Reddy'
Hyderabad, February 3 - Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga rose to fame with this directorial debut movie Arjun Reddy (2017), a big blockbuster before it was re-made in Hindi with Shahid Kapoor as Kabir Singh which emerged as an even bigger success.## Arjun Reddy, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Shalini Pandey, was unlike other romantic Telugu films with a higher level of intimacy. Both Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh were huge box-office successes but at the same time, they received criticism for the toxic portrayal of the characters. ## Director Sandeep Vanga, who attended the pre-release event of Naga Chaitanya and Sai Pallavi's Thandel on Sunday as the chief guest, revealed an interesting casting update on Arjun Reddy. The maverick filmmaker revealed that Sai Pallavi was the first choice for the female lead instead of Shalini Pandey, who won a lot of praise for her acting in the movie. ## The Animal director said that Sai Pallavi has been one of his favourites since Premam and he wanted to cast the actress opposite VD in Arjun Reddy. However, the director was rightly advised to rule her out by the Malayalam actor coordinator (whome the director later found as fake) as her personality is completely opposite to the character of Preethi in Arjun Reddy. ## It is widely known that Sai Pallavi, who has had a successful career so far, has refrained from doing intimate characters and has done more family-orientated roles in the movies. The coordinator mentioned that the actress would never agree to wear sleeveless outfits, let alone perform the romantic scenes required for the film. ## Vanga admired the actress for not changing since her early days despite becoming a successful star over the years. Sai Pallavi also praised the director for having a unique voice of storytelling and remaining unfiltered both on and off-screen and not getting influenced by external factors. ## "I wanted to cast #SaiPallavi in #ArjunReddy, but after hearing my story, the coordinator said she wouldn’t even wear sleeveless, so she definitely wouldn’t act in my film."– Director @imvangasandeep at the #Thandel pre-release event. pic.twitter.com/tKH8ByO9up— Telugu Chitraalu (@TeluguChitraalu) February 2, 2025 ## Stay tuned...
