Vikram clears the air on Anurag Kashyap's Kennedy casting

Actor Vikram and Anurag Kashyap are clearing the air on the casting of Kennedy. A day after Anurag Kashyap revealed that Chiyaan Vikram did not respond to his call when the filmmaker approached him to play the lead in Kennedy, the actor responded on social media and clarified his stand.

In an interview with the Film Companion, Kashyap stated that his latest film Kennedy was named after Vikram and he wanted the Tamil superstar to play the lead. “I actually had a specific actor in mind when I wrote this film; which is why the film is called Kennedy. The film was called Kennedy Project. It is Chiyaan Vikram, whose real name is Kennedy. I reached out to him. He never responded. So then, I reached out to Rahul (Bhatt),” said the director.

Post this, many fans expressed their disappointment in both artists losing out on an opportunity to work together.
Reacting to numerous social media messages, the Ponniyin Selvan actor took to Twitter to clarify that he, in fact, had never received Anurag's message. "Dear Anurag Kashyap. 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 immediately and explained that I hadn’t gotten any mail or msg from you as the mail id that you had contacted me on was no longer active and my number had changed almost 2 years before that.”

Vikram even shared his excitement for the film and wished Anurag. “As I said during that phone call, I’m very excited for your film Kennedy and even more so because it has my name. I wish you great times ahead. Lots of love, Chiyaan Vikram aka Kennedy,” he signed off.

Vikram, who is currently on a break after suffering a rib injury on the sets of his upcoming film Thangalaan.

Responding to the actor, the director tweeted, "Absolutely right Boss sir. For the information of people, when he found out from another actor that I was trying to reach 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 reading the script but by then we were all locked and a month away from shooting. He also graciously blessed us to use the name “Kennedy” for the film. What I stated in the interview was the story behind how the film got to be called Kennedy,” he said adding that this was no need for any overreaction to his statement. “And definitely, I think neither Chiyaan sir nor I am retiring without working together. FYI we go back to pre-Sethu days,” he further said.

Kennedy, directed by Anurag Kashyap, will premiere out of competition at Cannes in the Midnight Screenings section. A few weeks earlier, the filmmaker shared the teaser of the film which showed lead actor Rahul Bhatt on a killing spree. The film also features Sunny Leone as a mysterious woman named Charlie.

The film is said to revolve around an insomniac ex-cop who is assumed dead but continues to operate as an assassin for the department.

Vikram was recently seen playing Aditha Karikalan in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan films.