EXCLUSIVE: Anurag Kashyap reveals why Vijay Sethupathi and Javed Akhtar have been mentioned under ‘Special Thanks’ in Kennedy After a long wait, Anurag Kashyap’s Kennedy, starring Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone, was finally released on Friday, February 20, on Zee5. The acclaimed film premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The same year, it was screened at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, that too in the sprawling Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, where it got a thunderous response from the 1000+ attendees. Last year, Anurag had revealed in an interview that Vijay Sethupathi would be mentioned under ‘Special Thanks’ in Kennedy, but didn’t divulge the reason behind it. True to his statement, the popular actor is indeed credited, with Javed Akhtar also featuring in the ‘Special Thanks’ list. Bollywood Hungama exclusively spoke to Anurag Kashyap to understand the reason behind their mentions. Anurag revealed, “Vijay made some edit suggestions into the film. ” As for Javed Akhtar, he replied, “Earlier, we had used a dialogue from Javed Saab. But later, it got edited. ”In an event hosted by The Hindu in May 2025, Anurag Kashyap revealed how Vijay Sethupathi convinced him to take up the role of the antagonist in the 2024 cult Tamil flick, Maharaja. At that time, Anurag had said, “After Imaikka Nodigal (2018), I said no to a lot of South films because every other day, a South film would come to me. It started post-Kennedy. I was in the post-production of Kennedy. I was... #Film_Festival #Anurag_Kashyap #Vijay_Sethupathi #Sunny_Leone #Rahul_Bhat #starring_Rahul #Special_Thanks’ #Javed_Akhtar #Anurag #long_wait
