No doubt that year 2017 was ruled by the Southern cinema. While Hindi films failed to leave much mark on the ticket windows, Southern films did exceptionally well business. One such southern (Telugu) language film is ‘Arjun Reddy’, which out of a blue turned out as a blockbuster and gained the cult status. Directed by debutant Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the film starred Vijay Deverakonda in and as ‘Arjun Reddy’, and after the massive success of the film in Telugu version, the makers decided to make a Hindi version of the film. It is believed that the makers initially wanted Vijay, the original star, to do the Hindi version, then they went to Ranveer Singh and finally the film landed in Shahid Kapoor ’s pockets.

The film revolves around Arjun Reddy, who is unable to control his anger and his addiction to drinking and the contemporary issues in urban youth upon love failure. The makers of the film believe Shahid can do justice to the role and have approached him for the same. A source close to the project revealed, “Director Sandeep Vanga wanted Ranveer to play Arjun Reddy. But after ‘ Padmavati ’, Ranveer is voluntarily off-limits for dark characters. So, Sandeep then went to Shahid, for whom this role would be an antithetical change after the noble royalty in Padmavati.”