Spirit poster: A wounded alpha, a compliant heroine, the familiar Vanga-sized misogyny, has he made it his trademark?

'The' Sandeep Reddy Vanga Poster.

‘The’ Sandeep Reddy Vanga film is, unsurprisingly, a Sandeep Reddy Vanga film. The same certainty applies to the way he designs his first-look posters, which function less as marketing tools and more as baiting rhetoric. Narrow the lens further and you’ll find that these posters aren’t really about the film at all; they are about his preferred deity: the tortured, worship-worthy male lead. As Vanga’s films are not simply character-driven; they are character-devoted. They orbit their men, kneel before them, build altars out of slow-motion rage and cigarette smoke, and ask the audience to watch in reverent silence. So when the clock struck midnight and the world stumbled into a new year, Vanga, true to form, ushered in 2026 with more machismo. The first-look poster of Spirit, his much-anticipated project starring Prabhas and Triptii Dimri, was released.

The film has been trailing controversy for months, largely due to reports of Deepika Padukone walking out after her eight-hour shift demand allegedly wasn’t met. Spirit is currently being shot and is said to be a cop drama, with Prabhas playing a man in uniform. When the poster dropped, social media did what it does best: sarcasm. Many thanked fate, the heavens, or basic labour rights for sparing Deepika from what looked suspiciously like another Vanga-shaped sermon. What also didn’t go unnoticed was how eerily familiar the poster felt. The iconography  echoed Kabir Singh, Animal, and all that there is in Vanga’s cinematic mood board. To be fair, judging a film entirely by its poster is unfair. Posters are, after all, sometimes meant to be deceiving. But when a filmmaker has a long-standing fondness for incitement, one can’t help but feel a sense of deja vu.

Front and centre is Prabhas: long hair, cigarette dangling (Animal, check), alcohol bottle in hand and glasses on (Kabir Singh, double check), his back bruised. He faces away from the camera, turned instead towards his beloved, played by Triptii Dimri. Knowing Vanga’s flair for symbolism, and metaphors, it’s hard not to read this as intentional. A hero with his back to the world, unconcerned with critics, judgment, or nuance.

And then there’s the woman. Present only to absorb damage that isn’t hers. Vanga’s female leads tend to exist as emotional first-aid kits, there to tend wounds, soothe egos, carry pain. They are less characters than functions. Triptii’s presence in the poster follows the tradition: shy, nurturing, deferential. She is there to hold the man together, even as he unravels everyone else.

First look poster of Spirit.

After Animal, (a film that seemed designed less as storytelling and more as retaliation), it has increasingly become difficult to give Vanga the benefit of doubt. As what could have been a meaningful exploration of generational violence was instead sacrificed at the altar of provocation. At this point, it feels less like coincidence and more like branding. Vanga has fashioned an entire creative identity around antagonising criticism and championing a particularly brittle version of masculinity. Because, misogyny isn’t a by-product of his cinema anymore; it’s very much the selling point.