Not Vijay Deverakonda, this actor was the first choice for ‘Arjun Reddy’

Vijay Deverakonda, widely regarded as one of the most popular young stars in Tollywood, became a household name when he starred in the much-hyped Arjun Reddy. The film, helmed by Sandeep Vanga, featured ‘Rowdy’ in an intense avatar that clicked with the audience. The dark romantic-drama ruffled a few feathers with its bold content and ‘misogynist’ theme, which ended up working in its favour. While almost everyone is familiar with the sensation called Arjun Reddy, what not many know is that VD was not the first choice for the maverick movie.

According to Pinkvilla, Sandeep originally wanted to make Arjun Reddy with Sharwanand in the titular role. This, however, was not meant to be as things did not work out. Following the setback, he approached the NOTA actor and the rest is history. The movie emerged as a runaway hit and redefined the tenets of Telugu cinema. It was remade in Hindi as Kabir Singh with Shahid Kapoor in the lead. The remake proved to be a bigger hit than the original version. The Tamil version (Adithya Varma), however, did not do as well as expected.

Sharwanand Myneni (Creative Commons/Saibaba2012)

Coming back to Deverakonda, he is going through a difficult phase on the work front. His problems started when Dear Comrade failed to deliver the goods and underperformed at the box office. He was last seen in World Famous Lover, which sank without a trace. The romantic-drama did not click with a vast section of the audience and this proved to be its downfall.

Deverakonda will next be seen in the Hindi-Telugu bilingual Fighter that marks his Bollywood debut. The Puri Jagannadh-helmed actioner features him in a new avatar that has created a fair deal of buzz among ‘Comrades’. The cast of the movie includes Ananya Panday, Ronit Roy and Baahubali actress Ramya Krishnan. One is likely to get clarity on its release date after the lockdown,

Also read: Ananya Panday to star opposite Vijay Devarakonda in Puri Jagannadh's next