Vijay-starrer Leo got mixed reviews upon its release but the film was a massive hit nevertheless. The film also starred Sanjay Dutt in a villainous role but nearly two years after the release, Sanjay has expressed his dissatisfaction with the role. He shared at a recent interaction that he was upset with director Lokesh Kanagaraj for not giving him a substantial role in the film.
At an event of his upcoming film KD-The Devil in Chennai, starring Kannada actor Dhruva Sarja, Sanjay shared that he was elated to work with Vijay but had a complaint with the director. “I worked with Thalapathy Vijay. I loved it,” he said and added, “I am angry with Lokesh because he didn’t give me a big role.” He laughed as he said, “He wasted me.” While the actor might have meant it on a lighter note, his statement prompted a mixed reaction on social media.
“I worked with ThalapathyVijay & I loved it♥️. I’m angry with LokeshKanagaraj, because he didn’t give me a big role in #LEO. He wasted me😀”
– #SanjayDutt pic.twitter.com/aWDNtkSEar— AmuthaBharathi (@CinemaWithAB) July 11, 2025
A clip of his statement surfaced online, which attracted several responses from X users. A few agreed with the actor and wrote, “Very True. IMO, Leo didn’t need two villains, harold das character would have been easily skipped in writing. Sanjay dutt had terrific presence supported by superb voice casting.” Another user wrote, “Not only him every characters wasted. Vj should stop involving in story corrections.”
Other comments read, “Very true he wasted him for sure. Otherwise movie would be a great movie”, and “To be honest, very true, no disrespect, Sanjay Dutt is someone bigger than Arjun and deserved to be the main villain.”
Meanwhile, others got offended by his joke and wrote, “Did you sign for the movie without hearing story and what’s the role. Get paid handsomely goes back and complains after year. Why to commit if the role was less.” Another comment read, “Dude that’s straight disgrace.”
Previously, talking about how Sanjay Dutt joined the movie, Lokesh Kanagaraj told IndiaGlitz, “Based on his interviews and films, I had a different perception of him. I told myself ‘Okay, this is how he is going to be and you have to be this careful as he has done so many films’. However, when I told him the story and he found there was a scope for him to perform, he was elated.”
He added, “He has done around 270 films, but this is the first one in Tamil. He has done KGF, and we have seen him perform. He could have just said, ‘I will mouth the dialogues, you guys take care of the lip sync’. But, no. Every day, he would get the dialogues and sit with two of my assistants like a tuition student. He would memorise the dialogues, record and send them to me. Only then he will go to sleep. Sometimes, he will prepare till 2 am or 3 am before coming to the sets in the morning. I never dreamt of such dedication.”
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However, Sanjay Dutt’s character was dubbed by actor Pudipeddi Ravi Shankar. Leo, reportedly made on a budget of Rs 250 crore, earned Rs 605 crore worldwide, according to Sacnilk.
