“I Actually Like to Cast Somebody Who Doesn’t Fit That Part”: Kunal Kemmu on Choosing Sparsh Shrivastava as Bugs in VIBE!
At the heart of VIBE is the friendship between Hardik and Bugs, making the casting of the two leads central to the film’s dynamic. While Sparsh Shrivastava may not have been the obvious fit for Bugs as originally envisioned, writer-director Kunal Kemmu saw an opportunity to do something unexpected. Impressed by Sparsh’s acting prowess, Kemmu reshaped the character to make him younger and reworked his dynamic with Hardik, giving Sparsh a role unlike any audiences have seen him play before.
Speaking about why he adapted the role of Bugs specifically for Sparsh Shrivastava, Kunal Kemmu shared, “In all honesty, he doesn’t fit the part as is, so I moulded it a little bit because as an actor I know you can. I don’t believe when people say you cannot pull off something like this. I think if you’re a good actor, you can pull it off unless it’s not your age. If the director has one particular physicality in mind or bohot action hai but isne kabhi action hi nai kiya hai ya physically utna strong nai hai, those aspects I get, which actors can also mould themselves for. But for me, he was younger than the part, so I made the part younger, and I made the relationship between them slightly different from how it was initially imagined.”
He further added, “Only because I thought that he is an interesting actor and it was a different part from what he had done before. And I like to do that with actors—when people always see them ki yeh aisa kar raha hai, you always get cast for the same thing. I actually like to cast somebody who doesn’t fit that part in the so-called, you know, how you’d imagine to see them. So that’s what excited me, and I think that’s why Sparsh was an immediate choice for Bugs.”
VIBE is a high-stakes action comedy written and directed by Kunal Kemmu. Produced by Kunal Kemmu and Chirag Nihalani under the banner of Drongo Films, the film follows two inseparable friends whose ordinary lives spiral into an unpredictable adventure, pushing their survival instincts and friendship to the limit. Bringing together high-stakes action, character-driven comedy, infectious music, and an ensemble cast with a vibe of its own, the film is headlined by Kemmu alongside Preity G Zinta, Sparsh Shrivastava, and Vanshika Dhir, and features Yashpal Sharma and Dinesh Lal Yadav in pivotal roles.
Amazon MGM Studios’ VIBE hits theatres on September 18, 2026.
By Keerti Kadam