Anurag Kashyap is attending the Cannes Film Festival 2023 for the global premiere of his upcoming film, Kennedy. Headlined by Sunny Leone and Rahul Bhat, it will be screened in the "Midnight Screening" category. In an interview before the global premiere, Anurag revealed Chiyaan Vikram was his first choice for the police noir film as the superstar's real name is Kennedy. The director said when Vikram didn't respond, he approached Rahul. The statement sparked a conversation on social media.

In a tweet, Vikram clarified that he did contact Anurag when he learnt about Kennedy. He wrote, "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immediately and explained that I hadn’t gotten any mail or msg from you as the mail id that you had contacted me on was no longer active and my number had changed almost 2 years before that. 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."

Dear @anuragkashyap72 ,
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…

— Vikram (@chiyaan) May 22, 2023

Anurag responded, "Absolutely right Boss sir. For the information of people, when he found from another actor that I was trying to reach to 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. There is no need for any overreaction. And definitely I think neither Chiyaan sir or I am retiring without working together. FYI we go back to pre-Sethu days."

Absolutely right Boss sir. For the information of people, when he found from another actor that I was trying to reach to 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… https://t.co/1xmImitvHY

— Anurag Kashyap (@anuragkashyap72) May 22, 2023

In the interview, Anurag told, "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)."

(Source: Twitter)