Sandeep Vanga new Telugu sensation making waves in Bollywood: Lagadapati

Leading Telugu producer Lagadapati Sridhar heaped praises on young director Sandeep Vanga Reddy who made the bold and aggressive movie ‘Animal.’ “He is a master storyteller and is quite perfect in the execution of his varied thoughts. Happy that another Telugu director is making waves in the Hindi film industry,” says Sridhar, who happened to meet him during ‘Arjun Reddy’ days.

“After listening to ‘Arjun Reddy script, I was bowled over by the aggressive characterization of the hero. I instantly told Sandeep that it would rock in Bollywood, but I truly spotted a spark in him. However, I expressed my reservations about making the film in Telugu due to my conservative mindset. Nonetheless, he moved out and proved his mettle in Telugu and Bollywood with his daring execution,” says Sridhar, who draws parallels to his ‘dark’ protagonists with Ram Gopal Varma and Anurag Kashyap. “They were adept in glorifying gangsters and were able to win the sympathy of the audience for their crazy characters. Even Puri Jagannath showcased fiery heroes. Now, it is turn of Sandeep Vanga to re-define old-fashioned heroes and making them strong, fearless and belligerent to keep audience guessing about their next move,” he points out

Talking about ‘Animal,’ he admits that it promotes toxic masculinity but audiences have lapped it up. "A section of the audience love such kind of chauvinistic movies and he has catered to their tastes. It turned out to be a blockbuster," he says and adds, 'The film also boasts of strong emotions and engaging screenplay and above all terrific writing coupled with sound design and sustaining the interest for the next element in the film.’

He claims that keeping the audience glued to their seats for more than three and half hours is not an easy task. “When filmmakers are unable to sustain audience interest for 2 or 2.5 hrs, Sandeep captures their imagination for over three hours and breaks the myth that audiences have limited patience. If you have command over your narration and a brilliant actor like Ranbir Kapoor showcasing a gamut of emotions, the audience will stay back and enjoy,” he adds.

He claims that by showing a second Ranbir in the film, is he hinting at a sequel. "Besides a sequel, he wants the audience to remember the film even after going home and discussing it. Only well-made movies could give such everlasting experience for movie buffs,”

He claims that Sandeep Vanga has more novel scripts and is bound to make pugnacious star-centric movies exploring grey and dark shades of human beings. “I wish he makes a wholesome film, rather than restricting himself to one section of viewers to expand his fan base,”he concludes.