Shahid Kapoor in Ranbir Kapoor's Animal? The crossover that didn't happen

Shahid Kapoor could have had a special role in Ranbir Kapoor's Animal, but his schedule didn't permit the same. The actor revealed the story of Sandeep Reddy Vanga's vision, which involved Kabir Singh joining Rannvijay in Aimal.

Shahid Kapoor recently reacted to fan speculation about his character, Kabir Singh, entering the world of Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal Park. The actor, who is now gearing up for O' Romeo, discussed how Vanga had considered giving Kabir Singh a cameo in the 2023 film Animal, but the idea was not pursued due to scheduling difficulties.

In an interview with Dainik Bhaskar, the actor revealed that he was approached for the 2023 film, with a specific scene in mind for Kabir Singh. However, aligning his schedule proved challenging, and the plan was dropped.

The actor said, "Jab Animal bhi ban rahi thi, actually Sandeep had come to meet me. He wanted one scene of Kabir to be there in that, but woh ho nahi paaya... Kuch dates ka issue ho gaya, koi dusra issue ho gaya. But yes, he had said that I want one scene. Phir wo hua nahi. (When Animal was being made, actually Sandeep had come to meet me. He wanted Kabir to have one scene in it, but that couldn’t happen. There were some date issues, some other issues. But yes, he had said that he wanted one scene. Then it didn’t happen)."

The actor emphasised that any future crossover would depend entirely on the director's creative choices. "Wo dono characters unke hain, wo duniya unki hai. Toh unke saath unko jo man mein aayega karne ke liye, wo karenge. (Both those characters belong to him, that world is his. So whatever he feels like doing with them, he’ll do)," he said.

Sandeep Reddy Vanga directed both Kabir Singh (2019) and Animal (2023). The former, starring Shahid and Kiara Advani, was a commercial success but also faced criticism for its toxic masculinity. Animal, featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, and Triptii Dimri, performed strongly at the box office, but was slammed for its excessive violence and toxic masculinity.

Shahid is now looking forward to the release of Vishal Bhardwaj’s forthcoming film O'Romeo, co-starring Triptii Dimri. It is based on S Hussain Zaidi's popular book titled The Mafia Queens of Mumbai. It also features Nana Patekar, Tamannaah Bhatia and Vikrant Massey, and is slated to hit the screens on February 13.