Why the Uproar Over the Film 'Spirit'? The Clash Between Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga

By Shantiswaroop Tripathi

For the past ten to twelve days, Bollywood has been in an uproar. At the root of this storm, in many ways, is the age-old adage: "money makes the world go round." It's a truth few are willing to admit. Bless Nana Patekar, who, at the 'Housefull 5' trailer launch, openly confessed that he agreed to star in the film because of the director and the money. But how many people in Bollywood have the courage to speak such truths? The reality is, the number of people in Bollywood who operate from behind the scenes is growing. They don't come forward themselves but use their troll armies and PR machinery to wage a full-blown proxy war. In doing so, instead of addressing the core issue, they resort to character assassination of a weaker person associated with the powerful one, if the opponent happens to be powerful. We've been witnessing this for the past ten to twelve days. In these twelve days, the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that people are attacking indirectly, following the "eyes elsewhere, aim elsewhere" strategy, and innocent individuals are getting caught in the crossfire of two titans. This is a stark reality, whether it's Paresh Rawal's departure from 'Hera Pheri 3' or Deepika Padukone's exit from 'Spirit'. Here, we'll delve into the battle between Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga, trying to understand how necessary this controversy was, what its real root is, and who stands to gain or lose from it. To some extent, this issue seems to be driven by ego, arrogance, and suddenly dreaming big.

In the cold war between Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the surprising thing is that initially, Deepika Padukone was ready to do 'Spirit' under the direction of 'Kabir Singh' and 'Animal' fame director Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Back then, she liked the script. She had no issues with the film's hero, Prabhas, either. Sandeep Reddy Vanga also had no problem working with Deepika. That's why he reportedly narrated two drafts of his film's script to Deepika Padukone. So, the question arises: what suddenly caused such a huge rift between them? Why did Deepika Padukone's troll army, her fan clubs, and PR machinery suddenly turn toxic towards Sandeep on social media?

Deepika Padukone, who promotes herself as the highest-paid actress, was seen in 'Pathaan', released on January 5, 2023, and 'Jawan', released on September 7, 2023. Since then, she hasn't appeared in any film. Meanwhile, on September 8, 2024, Deepika Padukone also became a mother to a daughter. Three months after becoming a mother, she felt an eagerness to return to acting as soon as possible. Around this time, 'Animal' fame director Sandeep Reddy Vanga offered her 'Spirit', a Rs 300 crore film with Prabhas, and Deepika immediately jumped at the opportunity. The script was narrated twice. Everything was going smoothly. But sources close to Deepika Padukone claim that suddenly, in the first week of May, the idea of starting her career after motherhood with a very big-budget film to set a new record crossed her mind. In other words, Deepika Padukone's ambitions grew rapidly, and then she received an offer from 'Jawan' fame director Atlee for an Rs 800 crore film with Allu Arjun. There's buzz that this film might be named 'Icon'. Deepika felt like she had received a wish come true. Firstly, Deepika Padukone had developed good chemistry with director Atlee due to their work together in 'Jawan'. Secondly, the film's budget was huge, and thirdly, she had the opportunity to work with internationally acclaimed actor Allu Arjun, known for 'Pushpa 2', along with rumors of a Rs 40 crore fee for this film. In such a scenario, Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film seemed inferior to Deepika Padukone in every respect, so she decided to leave Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film and put forth several conditions.

Unprofessional Demands and a Strategic Exit

According to discussions on social media, the conditions Deepika Padukone put forth cannot, at any level, be called professional demands from an artist. Despite being a Telugu speaker herself and having done several Telugu films, she stipulated to Sandeep Reddy Vanga that she would not dub her dialogues in Telugu for 'Spirit'. Additionally, Deepika stated that she wouldn't do bold scenes with Prabhas. She also demanded a fee of Rs 20 crore along with a 15% share of the film's profits. She even put a condition of shooting only six hours out of an eight-hour day. While some conditions might be accepted on humanitarian grounds, given she's a mother to a young daughter, her demand to travel with her 26-member team from Mumbai to Hyderabad in a chartered plane for shooting is a clear symbol of unprofessionalism. Nevertheless, Deepika Padukone, with a well-thought-out strategy, placed such conditions that Sandeep Reddy Vanga would be unable to accept them, leading to her exit from 'Spirit'. This would allow her to pursue Atlee's film, aligning with her expanded ambitions, without any hindrance.

The Fallout: Tripti Dimri's Entry and Deepika's Fury

Well, it happened exactly according to Deepika Padukone's strategy... Sandeep Reddy Vanga announced that, given Deepika Padukone's unprofessional behavior, he was removing her from 'Spirit'. Until this point, there was still some semblance of humanity.

But as soon as Sandeep Reddy Vanga announced that he had signed Tripti Dimri, who had worked with him in 'Animal', in place of Deepika Padukone for 'Spirit', a large section of Bollywood was shocked. However, this news stung Deepika Padukone so much that, in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's words, it was a case of "the cat scratching the pole when embarrassed" (the correct idiom is "a shamed cat scratches the pole"). Yes! As soon as Tripti Dimri joined 'Spirit', Deepika Padukone, like a wounded tigress, unleashed all her arrows from her quiver to destroy not only Sandeep Reddy Vanga but also Tripti Dimri. Deepika Padukone used her alleged fans, fan clubs' troll army, along with her strong and large PR machinery, to defame Sandeep Reddy and Tripti Dimri in every way on social media. Like all filmmakers, Sandeep Reddy Vanga had narrated the entire script of his film 'Spirit' to the actress, Deepika Padukone, twice. Deepika Padukone took this fight to the lowest possible level, disregarding all humanity and ethics, and leaked or caused to be leaked the story/basic line of the film 'Spirit' on social media. Only Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga know the truth. If there is any truth to Sandeep Reddy Vanga's words, then "Deepika Padukone has shattered the trust that existed between an artist and a film director/writer regarding a film's story without any agreement. Deepika might have to pay a heavy price for this in the future." Without naming Deepika, Sandeep Reddy Vanga tweeted, accusing her of making the film's story public. Sandeep Reddy Vanga said quite a bit. Sandeep Reddy Vanga termed it a "dirty PR game." In this tweet, Sandeep Reddy Vanga openly challenged Deepika to make the entire story of his film public, stating that even then, it couldn't harm his talent. Sandeep Reddy tweeted in English, which translated to Hindi, "The one breaking the unspoken trust between a filmmaker and actor, leaking story details, and bringing down a junior co-star." His tweet ended with "#dirtyPRgame."

Look, Sandeep Reddy Vanga is right in his place. Until about ten years ago, before a film's release, with the producer's consent, the entire script and even dialogues of a film would be published in several film magazines, yet films would become super-duper hits. Because a script written on paper only comes to life on screen through directorial talent. And Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the director of 'Kabir Singh' and 'Animal', has full faith in his directorial skills.

The Core of the Conflict: Tripti Dimri's Threat to Deepika's Ambition

Now, the crucial question arises: why did Tripti Dimri's entry into 'Spirit' anger Deepika Padukone? While there's no definitive answer, a section of Bollywood believes that Tripti Dimri's presence has thwarted Deepika Padukone's sudden, immense ambition – her desire to amass a large sum of money in a very short time. According to media reports, Deepika Padukone wanted to start shooting Atlee's Rs 800 crore film in July, pocketing its fee, and then also do 'Spirit'. In the interim, she wanted to keep 'Spirit' in limbo by imposing conditions. In reality, when director Sandeep Reddy Vanga narrated his script to Deepika twice, Deepika realized that Sandeep Reddy Vanga had written the script with her in mind. Therefore, he wouldn't take any other actress in her place. In other words, Deepika Padukone was confident that Sandeep Reddy Vanga would accept her conditions and work with her at all costs. But Sandeep Reddy Vanga is also a bit stubborn and arrogant. He told Deepika, "If not you, then someone else..." Secondly, until now, Tripti Dimri was nowhere near Deepika's competition. But suddenly, Tripti Dimri became Deepika Padukone's biggest challenge. Yes! Now Tripti Dimri has become a direct competitor for Deepika Padukone. Deepika also couldn't tolerate this. Thirdly, Deepika also knew that the production company of 'Spirit', T-Series, was unhappy with Tripti Dimri. And T-Series had already shown Tripti Dimri the door from one of their films.

So, Deepika never imagined that T-Series would agree to Tripti Dimri's name overnight at director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's behest. But Deepika forgot that Bollywood is the only place where there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies. Not just Deepika, every artist should remember that like every producer, T-Series is investing money in the director, Sandeep Reddy Vanga's directorial talent and script; in such a scenario, the artist truly becomes secondary. We'd like to recall the 1972 film 'Koshish' here. In the film 'Koshish', produced by Romu N. Sippy and Raj N. Sippy, and written and directed by Gulzar, Sanjeev Kumar and Moushumi Chatterjee were initially cast. Moushumi had recently gotten married and was throwing tantrums on set, wanting to leave early every day. Gulzar spoke to the producer, and Raj N. Sippy removed Moushumi Chatterjee in a single day and brought Jaya Bhaduri into the film. Similarly, the production company of 'Spirit', T-Series, is investing money because they are impressed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga's script and direction, so T-Series assumed that Sandeep would not make a wrong decision. Furthermore, Sandeep Reddy Vanga had previously extracted good work from Tripti Dimri in the film 'Animal'. Tripti Dimri gained prominence because of 'Animal'. But as soon as she became a challenge for Deepika Padukone, Tripti Dimri has become the object of Deepika Padukone's wrath, even without any fault of her own.

Tripti Dimri: A Double Advantage

Even though Tripti Dimri is bearing the brunt of Deepika's anger, the dispute between Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga has given Tripti Dimri a double advantage. The biggest benefit is her return to T-Series. The second benefit is that she has once again got the opportunity to be part of a big film, 'Spirit', with a big director like Sandeep Reddy Vanga. And if sources are to be believed, Tripti Dimri's fee has also increased considerably this time. It seems her "five fingers are in ghee" (meaning she's in a very favorable situation), which is perhaps why she's not bothered by Deepika Padukone's troll army.

If this entire episode is viewed sequentially, one thing clearly emerges: even though Deepika Padukone has a formidable troll army, she has completely lost a winning game. Granted, she has Atlee's film. But Deepika Padukone will not be the only heroine in Atlee's film. If media reports are to be believed, along with Deepika,Janhvi Kapoor, Mrunal Thakur, Bhagyashree, and one more heroine will be in Atlee's film, and the search for that actress is ongoing.

The Unfolding Drama

Film industry sources believe the issue won't be resolved anytime soon. This war between Deepika Padukone and Sandeep Reddy Vanga is going to be a long one. We'll wait to see which way the wind blows.

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