With its official first weekend collections at 356 crore (worldwide gross), Animal has emerged as the second highest weekend grosser after Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan. And it seems like there’s no stopping the waves the Ranbir Kapoor starrer is creating at the box office. While it’s a moment of great joy for everyone associated with the film, Siddhant Karnick has a rather different reaction to it. For the unversed, he plays Ranbir’s nemesis in the film and is seen locking horns with him as their ego clashes and integrity gets tested.
Speaking to News18 Showsha exclusively, Siddhant says that he’s ‘taking it all in with neutrality’ and the reason for that is the dismal performance of Adipurush, where he played Vibhishana. He says, “I’ve learnt now not to have any expectations from films because my last film, which I had a lot of hope from, didn’t go the way I had expected it to. So, now I’m attaching a tone of neutrality to everything that comes my way and that’s a healthy way to take it on.”
Animal might be raking in the moolah but the film is also receiving a lot of flak from many who believe that it’s a distasteful portrayal of male toxicity and misogyny. Reacting to the same, Siddhant tells us, “It’s my job as an artist to make the audience react. I know my art is good when they react strongly to it. It’s not my responsibility to make them feel good or bad. My job is to just make them feel. Period. And this is in context to how people are feeling intensely about the film whether it’s positive or negative.”
The film has also come under the scanner for glorifying violence and male chauvinism with many questioning its moral quotient. Quiz Siddhant about it and he elaborates, “I feel we, as storytellers, aren’t here to make a social message film. We’re here to tell a story. Whether it appeals to the audience or not is up to them to decide. As for the misogyny, Ranbir just plays a character. We aren’t trying to show that this is how we should be. This is just how the character is and this is how he reacts and treats other people and by no means is it a message.”
The Made In Heaven actor further reiterates that mainstream cinema don’t bear the responsibility of making a moral and social commentary on how one should conduct themselves. Stressing on how it isn’t ‘a social message awareness advertisement campaign’, Siddhant adds, “I’m completely for Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s style and the film he has made. If the audience wants to draw morals, ethics and value system from a fictional film, that’s their choice. Our job is to tell a story and make the audience feel intensely about it. Irrespective of what the argument is, we’ve achieved that.”
