Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal is creating a havoc at the box office. The film has beaten the actor’s previous best opener film, Brahmastra – Part One: Shiva, by Rs 10 crores. While more and more audiences are flocking theatres to watch the Sandeep Reddy Vanga actioner, a certain section of netizens have been calling out the film for its blatant glorification of misogyny and toxic masculinity, thus adding to the post-Kabir Singh discourse.
Now, in an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, Anurag Kashyap reacts to those slamming the film for its violent and sexist content. “I’m yet to watch Animal. I just returned from Marrakech. But I’m aware of the conversations happening online. Nobody has the right to tell a filmmaker what kind of films they should and shouldn’t make. People in this country get easily offended with films. They get offended with my films too. But I expect educated people to not get offended at the drop of a hat,” he opines.
Anurag recalls the zeitgeist and conversation that followed after the release of Sandeep’s first Bollywood film, Kabir Singh, starring Shahid Kapoor. Talking about how provocative cinema should also be given room, he tells us, “This discussion happened during Kabir Singh too. Filmmakers have the right to make any film they want to and represent what they want to. We can criticise, argue and disagree with them. Films either provoke or evoke. I’ve no problem with filmmakers that make provocative cinema.”
The Kennedy director further talks about how films don’t bear the responsibility to make a statement on morality and how characters with an oscillating moral compass shouldn’t be slammed. “What is morality? It’s a very subjective thing. Every kind of character and people exist in this society. 80 percent of Indian men are like Kabir Singh. I didn’t have an issue with the subject,” he points out.
Anurag further continues, “The only problem with that film was that the other characters didn’t have agency. They were only used to prop up the central character. That’s a discussion that needs to happen. Healthy debates should happen. We can’t be standing and cancelling each other.”
Anurag reveals that he’s looking forward to watching the film that also stars Rashmika Mandanna, Bobby Deol and Anil Kapoor, and having a conversation with the director. “Once I see Animal, I’ll discuss it with the filmmaker. I’ll pick up the phone on him. That’s what I always do. If I’ve an issue with a film, I always call up the filmmaker and talk to him. I don’t want to get into social media chatter,” he states.
