The controversy around Spirit is still hitting headlines. More than a year after Deepika Padukone left the Prabhas-starrer, a new report has added another twist to the story.
According to a source quoted in the report, Deepika’s talks for Spirit may not have gone very far. The source claims that Deepika Padukone met director Sandeep Reddy Vanga only once. Vanga was reportedly an hour late to the meeting, but Deepika remained professional.
The source claims that Deepika was given only a one-line idea about Spirit. She was reportedly not given the full story. Deepika is said to prefer hearing the complete story before agreeing to a film. Because of this, the source claims that Spirit was never seriously considered by her in the first place.
The source also made a strong claim about why Deepika may not have wanted to work with Vanga. It pointed to his public image and what it called his “misogynist nature” in his personal image and films.
This version is very different from what was reported earlier.
After Deepika’s exit, people associated with Spirit spoke about other issues.
After Deepika’s exit, Sandeep Vanga shared a strongly worded social media post in May 2025. He said that when he narrates a story to an actor, he places complete trust in them. He also accused someone of leaking his story and questioned whether this is what their feminism stood for.
More recently, producer Pranay Reddy Vanga spoke about the reasons behind the change. He mentioned remuneration and profit-sharing as one issue and working hours as another. He also said there were other reasons. According to him, the team felt the deal was not working financially, so they started looking for other options. He added that plot details were then leaked.
The issue soon became much bigger than a normal casting change. Now, the latest source is giving a completely different version. It claims that Deepika did not reject the full story because she may never have heard it in the first place.
However, the exact reason for Deepika’s exit is still not clear. The latest claims come from an unnamed source and cannot be treated as confirmed facts. Different reports and statements have given different versions of what happened.
