Filmmakers Sandeep Reddy Vanga and Ram Gopal Varma were the latest guests on Jagapathi Babu’s Zee5 show Jayammu Nischayammu Raa. On the show, Sandeep opened up about being ‘scared’ if the interval of Arjun Reddy would click with the audience, especially after he watched the interval of SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2.

Sandeep Reddy Vanga on the ‘greatest’ interval of all time

Baahubali 2 was released in April 2017, and Sandeep’s debut film, Arjun Reddy, was released in August the same year. While the former was a larger-than-life period action film and the latter showed the slow unravelling of a young man, Sandeep says the rousing interval of Baahubali 2 left him scared if people would accept Vijay Deverakonda’s titular character wetting himself.

“Baahubali 2 had been released then, and in my opinion, it has the greatest interval ever. I don’t think any interval has beaten it to this day. After watching it, I remember going back to the office and sitting at the editing table, watching my interval. I was literally scared,” said Sandeep. Explaining the reason why, he added, “When you see the audience cheering for that kind of interval…and here, he’s peeing. So, I was very scared.”

The filmmaker says that it took two days for him to get his bearings and realise that his interval worked for his film. “I had phases of guilt and fear leading up to the release. By the time the teaser was released, I was confident that this character had worked,” said Sandeep.

The contrast in the two intervals

For the unversed, Arjun Reddy is the first film to give both Sandeep and Vijay a hit. Despite criticism of celebrating toxic masculinity, the film collected ₹51 crore worldwide after being made on a small budget of ₹5 crore. The film follows the titular character’s downfall as he experiences heartbreak and indulges in drugs before hitting rock bottom and redeeming himself. The interval scene has him wetting himself as he falls asleep after one of his drug benders.

In contrast, the interval of Baahubali 2 has Prabhas’ Amarendra Baahubali leading new king Rana Daggubati’s Bhallaladeva in a grand procession through Mahishmati while making their massive army bow down to him. The scene also shows Ramya Krishnan’s Sivagami appointing Baahubali as Bhallaladeva’s commander. It ends with the people of Mahishmati openly cheering for Baahubali over Bhallaladeva, fueling the latter’s envy. The film made ₹1788 crore worldwide and is one of India’s highest-grossers.