So far, the kindest thing Arjun Reddy/Kabir Singh director did to himself was to keep quiet about all the savage attacks he’s been facing regarding the abusive, violent behaviour of his protagonist played by Vijay Deverakonda in the Telugu film and Shahid Kapoor in its Hindi remake.

One doesn’t know what got into Sandeep, that he finally decided to talk. In a cringe-inducing interview with critic Anupama Chopra, Sandeep gets into the defensive, with full-on ferocity, hitting out at critics, feminists and other detractors.

About the protagonist in the movie repeatedly abusing and pushing around the girl he loves, Sandeep Vanga reasons, “If you can’t slap, touch your woman wherever you want, I don’t see emotion… I feel all the criticism the film faced is pseudo. When you are deeply in love, there is honesty in the relationship. If you don’t have the liberty of slapping each other, I don’t see anything in that relation.”

About women in the audience being offended by Kabir Singh’s proprietorial arrogance over his girlfriend, Vanga opines, “I think that these women were never in love and they never experienced it the right way. The female critics were only on the feminist side. They don’t understand the difference between description and objectivity.”

As the outrageous interview with Anupama progresses, Sandeep even gloats about how the film has made Rs 200 crore and lashes out at critic Rajeev Masand, calling him a “fat guy” who had given Kabir Singh two stars out of five. Even as he defends Kabir Singh in the interview, Sandeep slyly brought in references to two films Parinda and Sanju, which were produced by Anupama Chopra’s husband Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

But one would seriously advise Sandeep to refrain from making comments that don’t really serve as a defence for his films. What those defences do is to amplify his arrogance about the volume of success that Kabir Singh has got.

Not surprisingly, though, Sandeep’s interview with Anupama has met with howls of disgusted protests on the social media.Not surprisingly Vanga’s interview with Anupama Chopra has met with howls of disgusted protest on the  social media.