Sandeep Vanga – Filmmaker with ‘Arjun Reddy’ and ‘Kabir Singh’ to his credit

Sandeep Vanga Reddy, shortly called Sandeep Vanga is an Indian screenwriter and film director who shot to fame after his debut film, Arjun Reddy released in 2017. The movie, scripted by Vanga and released in Telugu was a huge blockbuster and received a cult classic status. The movie starring Vijay Deverakonda and debutant Shalini Pandey became immensely popular among youth. In 2019 he remade the film to Hindi titled ‘Kabir Singh’ with Shahid Kapoor playing the titular role. Though the movie received negative reviews for misogynistic shades and was dragged into controversies, like its original version, the film was widely popular among youth and declared a blockbuster.

Sandeep Vanga was born in 1981 in Warangal of present day Telangana. His father is a general merchant trader. During his teens the family moved to Hyderabad, where he completed his 10^th and Plus-two studies. He later studied physiotherapy from SDM College of Medical Sciences, Dharwad, but made his mind to join film industry. He studied a filmmaking course at AFTT International Film School, Sydney for two years. After returning to India he joined Telugu film industry as an assistant director in 2010 for the movie, Kedi. He later worked as Associate Director of Kranthi Madhav before he decided to mark a new journey as a director.

He started scripting Arjun Reddy in 2015 and the film was released in 2017 to receive overwhelming response. He came to spotlight soon after the movie release. It also ran into trouble with censor board and was released in Adults-only certification. After two successful outing in two different languages with entirely different star cast, he signed a romantic film with Tollywood superstar Mahesh babu.

Sandeep Vanga – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Arjun Reddy marked the screen debut of female lead Shalini Pandey and cinematographer Raju Thota, apart from Sandeep as a director. The movie was also gave big break to actor Vijay Deverakonda.

2. Arjun Reddy was released under family banner, “Bhadrakali Pictures” owned by his father and son, as it was not easy to get a film producer for its bold and abusive theme. Many producers, though promised him, backed out later.

3. He was seen in a brief appearance as Vedantam Raghaviah in highly acclaimed bilingual, Mahanati.

4. His son was born while he was shooting for Arjun Reddy, and he gave the same name to his son, backed by his father and brother.

5. Music, photography, flying kites and watching movies are some of his favourite hobbies.

6. For being misogynistic and justifying ‘ill-treatment’ of women in Kabir Reddy, the filmmaker was slammed by many. Interestingly when its original version released, it was not the same case.