Farhan Akhtar doesn’t resonate with Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal: ‘The character is problematic’

20 days ago | 21 Views

It’s been over six months, but the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal refuses to go out of discussion. Now, actor filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, in an interview with Faye D’Souza, spoke about the controversial film, saying he would never back such a problematic project.

Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal was released in December last year. It opened to polarising responses and went on to become a huge success at the box office.

Farhan’s view

In the interview, Farhan was asked about his views about the film, and he didn’t sugarcoat his words.

“The film didn’t do much for me. Is it something that I would recommend somebody to watch, I guess not,” he said.

When asked if he had the opportunity to produce Animal, he responded, “No, I won’t. It doesn’t resonate with me. For me, I feel that the character is problematic.”

At the time of the release, Animal saw a lot of flak coming in from all quarters on social media. In fact, Javed Akhtar and Swanand Kirkire had also slammed the film for portraying misogyny, toxicity and violence.

This is the second time when Farhan expressed his views about Animal. Sometime back, in an interview with YouTuber Raj Shamani, he was asked about his take on Ranbir Kapoor’s character Ranvijay.

At that time, he shared, “I don’t believe that some things should not be shown. We are in a field where, if someone tells me, ‘You can’t make a film like this’, then I’ll be like, ‘Who are you to tell me what I should and should not make?’ I am permitted by the laws of this country, and I have the freedom of artistic expression to say whatever I want.”

Ranbir’s response to the criticism

During a chat with Nikhil Kamath, Ranbir also reflected on the film garnering a wave of negative response.

He said, “Social media played havoc. They need something to talk about, so they really went to town claiming it was a misogynistic film. What happens is that the hard work that you put in… I know the director had made Kabir Singh, which also faced the same thing, the hard work gets diminished. Because it gets this tag, which isn’t true, the perception stayed with this film”.

“So, the general public will speak very fondly about the film, but there are many people I meet, who tell me, ‘You shouldn’t have done this film, we are so disappointed in you’. And a lot of people from the film industry (said the same thing). I quietly apologise and say, ‘Sorry I won’t do it next time.’ I don’t really agree with them, but I am in that phase of my life I don’t argue with anyone. If you don’t like my work, I will say I am sorry I will try harder next time,” Ranbir added.

About the film

Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal revolves around a troubled father-son relationship. It has Ranbir Kapoor in the role of Rannvijay Singh, who goes on to take revenge after there's an assassination attempt on his father. The film also stars Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Triptii Dimri and Anil Kapoor in pivotal roles. A sequel to the film, Animal Park, is also in the works.