Actor Vijay Varma of the Gully Boy fame revealed recently that he was finalized for a role in the breakout series Sacred Games but Anurag Kashyap changed his role at the last minute.
Sacred Games, the Netflix show based on the book by the same name, spanned for two seasons and was directed by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Neeraj Ghaywan. The series that starred Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui in the lead role is considered to be the pioneer in the OTT shows in India as it became quite a sensation around the world.
In an interview to Mid-Day, Varma revealed that,
“They had locked me for one of the parts, one of the significant parts, and Netflix and Mukesh Chhabra (the casting director), and everyone had zeroed in, but Anurag Kashyap changed his mind last minute and he threw me out.”
No Bitterness Between The Two
Despite this incident, both the individuals seem to have no bitterness among them as both of them have publicly admired each other. In an interview, Anurag Kashyap praised Vijay Varma for his performance in Bamfaad. He said,
“Vijay and I started our careers with the same films like Chittagong and Monsson Shoutout, in which he was the lead and I was the producer. When I saw the first cut of Bamfaad, I immediately called up Vijay and told him that with his role, a new aspect of him has come out. I think it’s one of the best approaches to a performance by an actor.”
In an interview with India today, Vijay Varma was all praise for the Bombay Velvet director. He said,
“I can’t call him a mentor or a friend, it is just that he is one director I admire the most. I look up to his work. I think this industry owes a lot to his mind and his capabilities. The way he finds talent is incomparable. He has been a well-wisher. He has promised that he will work with me soon as a director, but that is yet to be fulfilled.”
Source: Free Press Journal
