Sandeep Reddy Vanga is an Indian director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the commercially successful Telugu-language film Arjun Reddy. He also directed Kabir Singh, Hindi Remake of Arjun Reddy with Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani which was released on 21 June 2019.
Sandeep worked as an apprentice for the film Manasu Maata Vinadhu in 2005 for 25 days at Rushikonda Beach, Vizag. He worked for a few Tollywood films, including Kedi as an assistant director and "Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju" as Associate Director with Kranthi Madhav. He started writing the script for Sugar Factory for his directorial debut, but shelved it and started working for Arjun Reddy.
Arjun Reddy
He started writing the script for Arjun Reddy in 2013 and finished it in a year. Producer, Swapna Dutt and Sharwanand showed interest to do the role however it didn't pan out as Sharwaand had multiple projects in the queue at that time. He was introduced to Vijay Deverakonda by a common friend. He cast him as the lead for his directorial debut, Arjun Reddy. The film was released on 25 August 2017 and became a blockbuster hit with rave reviews. The film, produced on a budget of ₹4-5 crores, went on to gross more than ₹50 crores at the box office.
Controversy
The film ran into trouble with censor board for its depiction of smoking and narcotic drug use. It also created furor for its kissing scenes and also for a movie poster which was approved by Telangana Film Chamber. Senior Congressman and Telangana Political Leader, V. Hanumantha Rao raged over the positioning of this Matured film to the audience. He went on to roads peeling off posters and stickers of the film promoting audience not to encourage such violent films. Women protection cells and other women organizations appealed to courts and media not to highlight women in a bad image or publish intimate content which they believed degrading and unnecessary.
Remakes
Arjun Reddy was remade in different Indian languages, in Tamil as Adithya Varma with Chiyan Vikram's son Dhruv in the lead role. In Hindi it was produced as Kabir Singh with Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani in lead roles. The film was released in June 2019, and became a commercial success.
Bollywood Debut
Sandeep himself directed the Hindi version of Arjun Reddy titled as Kabir Singh. He signed up Shahid Kapoor as lead. Kiara Advani was roped for playing the female lead. The film was produced by Murad Khetani and Ashwin Warde and the rights to the original film were purchased for 15 million. The shooting began in July 2018 and the movie was released on 21 June 2019 and became a commercial success at the box office.
Personal life
Sandeep married Manisha Reddy Vanga in 2014 and they have a son, Arjun Reddy Vanga, which he used his son's name for the main character in his debut film Arjun Reddy.
