4 min readMumbaiUpdated: Nov 12, 2025 12:40 PM IST
To celebrate 36 years of Ram Gopal Varma’s 1989 action thriller Siva, starring Nagarjuna, the makers are planning to re-release the film. They’ve made a documentary titled The Punch of Siva, which has several prominent Telugu celebrities discussing the film’s storied legacy. As part of the celebrations, Annapurna Studios also got Varma, Nagarjuna, and filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga together for a discussion.
In a promo released by the production house, Nagarjuna can be heard heaping praise on Vanga’s 2023 blockbuster family crime drama Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor. He recalled while working with Ranbir on Ayan Mukerji’s 2022 supernatural drama Brahmastra: Part One -Shiva that all the actor could talk about then was his upcoming role in Animal.
“I remember that time I was doing Brahmastra with him and he was only talking about Animal that he was going to start. At that time, he had not started Animal,” recalled Nagarjuna. “He was pulling out Arjun Reddy. He was not pulling out the Hindi version, but the Telugu version. He was showing some scenes. I remember one sequence where Vijay (Vijay Deverakonda) is kissing the girl. And he was showing and saying, ‘This is so real.’ He was very, very excited to start that film,” he added.
When Varma asked Vanga if the actors ever had any doubts regarding his portrayal in Animal, Vanga said, “Ranbir never had a doubt. Ranbir said everything is so new.” Vanga, who made a breakthrough with his 2017 Telugu romantic drama Arjun Reddy, made inroads into Bollywood with its 2019 blockbuster Hindi remake, Kabir Singh. He then followed it up with Animal, and is now making Spirit with Prabhas.
Varma, who’s often been in high praise of Vanga ever since Animal, also revealed that Baahubali and RRR filmmaker SS Rajamouli also seemed to be a fan. “After the release of Animal, SS Rajamouli called me and said, ‘I compared Sandeep Reddy Vanga with you earlier. I take my words back, he is the Ram Gopal Varma ka baap,'” said Varma.
Vanga confessed his film school in editing was to watch all of the early films of Ram Gopal Varma, including Siva. In the chat, Varma reiterated that Siva was nothing but his college experiences combined with the plot outline of Bruce Lee’s Return of the Dragon (1972). “When I was in my teens, I was a huge fan of Bruce Lee. A day before Venkat asked me to write a script for Nagarjuna, I watched Return of the Dragon for the 15th time. I took that film’s basic idea — changed the restaurant to a college, martial arts to our style fights, and wrote the first draft in 20 minutes. I just added characters and my college experiences,” explained Varma.
Also Read — Ram Gopal Varma tells Sandeep Reddy Vanga that he ‘didn’t connect’ with the father-son scenes in Animal: ‘I always fast-forward’
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Nagarjuna, however, still hails Siva as one of his and Varma’s best. When asked if either of his sons — Naga Chaitanya and Akhil Akkineni — would star in a remake of Siva, he responded, “Chay and Akhil don’t have the guts to remake Siva.” He also expressed his desire to reunite with wife Amala Akkineni on screen 36 years after Siva.
Ranbir Kapoor told Nagarjuna how excited he was for Animal.