“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 a friendship between Hardik and Bugs, making the casting of two characters central to the film’s dynamic. While Sparsh Shrivastava may not have been the obvious fit for Bugs as the character was originally imagined, Kunal Kemmu saw an opportunity to do something unexpected. Finding Sparsh an interesting actor, Kunal reshaped the character to make him younger and reworked his equation with Hardik, giving Sparsh a part unlike those audiences had seen him play before.
Speaking about why he reshaped the character of Bugs 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 you know when people lot of times, 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 it, which also actors can mould yourself 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 you know 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. The film is produced by Kunal Kemmu and Chirag Nihalani under the banner of Drongo Films and 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.