A day after Anurag Kashyap revealed that he had written his film Kennedy with actor Chiyaan Vikram in mind, but had not received a response from the actor when he tried to contact him, Vikram took to Twitter to address the controversy over the remark. Vikram said that Anurag had reached out to him through his defunct email ID and phone number, but on hearing about it from another actor, he had reached out to the filmmaker and explained the reason for not responding to his messages.
Kennedy, a Hindi film starring Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone, is set to screen at the prestigious Cannes film festival in France on Wednesday, May 24, under the Midnight Screenings section. In an interview with Film Companion in Cannes, Anurag spoke about the reason behind the film’s name and said that it was written with Vikram in mind. “I actually had a specific actor in mind when I wrote this film which is why the film is called ‘Kennedy’, because that actor's nickname is Kennedy,” Anurag said. He went on to mention that the actor was Chiyaan Vikram. “I reached out to him, but he never responded,” Anurag said.
Vikram’s birth name is Kennedy John Victor, and he is popularly known as Chiyaan Vikram after his role of Sethu/Chiyaan in the 1999 Tamil film Sethu.
The interview sparked speculation and critical reactions against both Vikram and Anurag on social media. While a few social media users criticised Vikram for not responding to the renowned filmmaker, fans of Vikram are now criticising Anurag for not speaking with more clarity during the interview.
Reacting to the interview and the reactions over it, Vikram wrote on Twitter, “When I heard from another actor that you had tried to reach me for this film and that you felt I hadn’t responded to you, I called you myself immediately and explained that I hadn’t gotten any mail or message from you…”
Dear @anuragkashyap72 ,
— Vikram (@chiyaan) May 22, 2023
Just revisiting our conversation from over a year ago for the sake of our friends and well wishers on social media. When I heard from another actor that you had tried to reach me for this film & that you felt I hadn’t responded to you, I called you myself…
Anurag corroborated this and added that there was no need for any “overreaction". The director said that upon finding out about his failed attempts to get in touch, Vikram “gave me his correct information to reach out and even showed interest in reading the script.” However, he revealed that the actors were finalised by then and that the shoot was to commence shortly.
“Neither Chiyaan sir or I are retiring without working together,” Kashyap shared.
Absolutely right Boss sir. For the information of people, when he found from another actor that I was trying to reach to him he called me directly and we realised that he had a different WhatsApp number. He gave me his correct information to reach out and even showed interest in… https://t.co/1xmImitvHY
— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) May 22, 2023
British actor Benedict Garrett who recently starred in the controversial film The Kerala Story is also a part of Kennedy’s cast.
Anurag’s Gangs of Wasseypur was also screened at the Cannes film festival in 2012. In 2013, two more of his films, Bombay Talkies and Ugly, were also screened at the festival.
Vikram is currently filming for Pa Ranjith’s Thangalaan in which he plays the lead alongside British actor Daniel Caltigirone, Malavika Mohan, Parvathy and Pasupathi. The star is also being widely celebrated for his role as Aditha Karikalan in Mani Ratnam’s screen adaptation of the Ponniyin Selvan novel.