Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s ‘Animal’ had a monstrous collections at the box office. The film crossed the Rs 100 crore mark in just two days and collected Rs 900 crore worldwide to become the biggest blockbuster of 2023. Despite all the praises and box office collection, the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer was bashed left, right and center.
The film received mixed reviews from critics and movie lovers with a section of people felt that it is laced with sexism, extreme violence, toxic masculinity and glorifies misogyny. Despite a section loudly dubbing it as violent and misogynistic, the film was embraced by movie goers and became Ranbir Kapoor’s highest grosser.
Amid all the trolling, Animal has got royal support from none other than veteran actress Sharmila Tagore. The veteran actress said that the success of Animal can’t be ‘rubbished’ but calls for a deeper examination as to why the audience embraced it.
“Beyond violence, there was misogyny. But there were a lot of women in the audience who said I want somebody to love me like that. Any film that runs a lot, you cannot rubbish it. You have to engage with it, try and understand it that what exactly is happening here,” said Sharmila while speaking to India’s popular lawyer Kapil Sibal who on the other hand called the film, “Terrible, terrible film, full of violence.”
Later, Kapil Sibal said that Laapataa Ladies has broken Animal’s records to which Sharmila gently corrected him and said, “Only on the OTT, not in the theatres.”
“Smaller films like Laapataa Ladies will also get their money back but not in the quantity that say a Ranbir Kapoor or a Ranveer Singh will bring,” she added.
Earlier, several other celebrities Anurag Kashyap, Trisha, and many others had also come out in support of Animal. On the other hand, it drew sharp criticism from several thinkers like Javed Akhtar, lyricist Swanand Kirkire, filmmaker Kiran Rao and actor Adil Hussain among others.
Apart from Ranbir Kapoor, the film also had Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna and Triptii Dimri in pivotal roles. Owing to the success of the movie, the makers are planning to come up with a sequel titled ‘Animal Park’.