Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal was released in theatres in December and recently started streaming online. The Ranbir Kapoor-starrer tells the story of a man with a troubled relationship with his father, leading him into darkness and violence. After its release, many criticised its violent and misogynistic content and questioned the director, who had previously directed Kabir Singh. Ranbir has now said that despite the film receiving negative reviews, it sparked a ‘healthy’ conversation in society.
In a new video by Netflix, Ranbir was discussing the film and he said, “There is a very healthy conversation that has started about toxic masculinity also, which is a great thing because cinema, at least, it starts a conversation. If something is wrong, if you don’t show that it is wrong, and unless conversation starts in the society, we will never realise it.”
He continued, “So the roles we are playing, those are characters. It is very important that as actors, we have empathy for them because we need to play it. But as an audience, you should decide what’s wrong. You can make a film on the wrong person and it should be made. Because if you don’t make a film on them, society will never improve.” Bobby supported Ranbir’s opinion and added, “Storytelling is the reflection of society. It’s showing you what is happening in the society and there are so many things we don’t want to talk about.”
In an earlier conversation, Javed Akhtar had described the success of Animal as “dangerous.” He said at the 9th Ajanta-Ellora International Film Festival, “The image of a hero should be created with an awareness of what is right and how it should be. Today’s writers need to think, because confusion has increased among them. The reason for this is that society is in confusion. Society does not decide what is right and what is wrong, but it is reflected in cinema. There was a time when the poor were good and the rich were bad. But today, we only have one thought in our head, ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati?’ So we can’t make the rich look bad now since we ourselves want to be rich.” Speaking about Animal, the veteran screenwriter said, “If there’s a film in which a man asks a woman to lick his shoe or if a man says it’s okay to slap a woman… and the film is a super hit, that’s dangerous.”
Animal also stars Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna and Triptii Dimri in pivotal roles. The film minted over Rs 900 crore worldwide.
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