The Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, debuted on Netflix on Republic Day after a record-breaking theatrical run that saw over Rs 900 crore in global box office revenue. But despite the film’s success, it has been marred by some harsh criticism around its perceived misogyny and glorification of toxicity. Vanga teased the film’s streaming debut by saying that he will restore the nine minutes he’d chopped from its theatrical cut, while actor Bobby Deol teased that an edited ‘kiss’ between his character and Ranbir Kapoor’s Vijay might be restored as well.
However, much to the disappointment of the film’s fans, no new footage was added to the streaming release.
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Also starring Rashmika Mandanna, Triptii Dimri and Anil Kapoor in important roles, the film’s theatrical run time stood at 3 hours 21 minutes. But as reported earlier, Netflix has decided to only release CBFC-approved cuts and not unrated versions, Vanga’s film did not get the 3 hours 30 minute version that the director was working on. Talking about the extended version, Vanga told Komal Nahata in an interview, “When I saw the film for the first time, I spotted a lot of problems. But I am correcting all those problems for the Netflix version. I’m currently editing the Netflix version, it will have a few more shots, I should’ve kept the 3-hour 30-minute version but due to pressure, I had to cut 8-9 minutes. I’m using that footage for the Netflix version of Animal.”
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In some earlier interviews, Bobby had revealed that his character Abrar was supposed to kiss Ranbir’s character during the film’s climax, but that scene couldn’t make it to the final cut. He had told The Quint, what Vanga had said. “He said, ‘You’re fighting, and you suddenly kiss him, and then you don’t give up, and he kills you’. But he removed the kiss. There was a kiss. I think it might come on the uncut Netflix version. After saying all this, he said, ‘You’re mute’,” Bobby recalled.
Also Read: Sandeep Reddy Vanga reveals why he removed ‘superb’ Bobby Deol-Ranbir Kapoor kiss from Animal climax: ‘It was diluting the unzipping moment’
Vanga had also spoken about why he decided to remove this scene in the theatrical cut. He had told Gallata Plus, “Yes, actually there was a kiss. Bobby will kiss Ranbir, a kiss on the cheek, and say, ‘Bhai, I didn’t even spend one day with my father’, and he’ll go back and open his zip. It was superb when we were shooting, but I felt like the kiss was diluting the zip. Why I removed it was because Bobby sir gave this expression with a smirk, and a tear falls down his cheek. I felt that was a bigger cinematic high than coming and kissing.”
Reacting to the regular run time and no kiss, one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter), “Animal extended cut is a scam lol. Original runtime 3H23M. Netflix runtime is 3H24M (eyeroll emojis).” Another fan posted, “Where is the extended cut version of Animal on Netflix? It was supposed to be 3h44m run time right?”
No extended cut of Animal 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/i0bhQeIUwe
— Jordan belfort (@jordan2belfort) January 25, 2024
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Sandeep had also mentioned in an interview that the initial version of the film was around 3 hours 45 minutes. Now with no extended version, many fans are questioning if they would get to see an uncut Blu-Ray version of Animal.
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