Rashmika Mandanna has backed 'Animal' director Sandeep Reddy Vanga and defended his films 'Arjun Reddy and 'Kabir Singh'. She said they were not violent films.
'Animal' trailer was launched on Wednesday amidst huge fanfare. It was attended by Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Sandeep Reddy Vanga and Bobby Deol among others. At the event, Rashmika backed director Sandeep and defended his films, 'Arjun Reddy' and 'Kabir Singh' which faced lots of criticism post release. The former starred Rashmika's rumoured boyfriend Vijay Deverakonda and the Hindi remake starred Shahid Kapoor.
Rashmika said that both films were 'not violent'. She said, ''When I watched Kabir Singh or Arjun Reddy, I didn't think they were violent films. They were high in intensity. The same is with Animal, where you see a little bit of violence. The film is also high in emotions. Sandeep, as a director, is an unapologetic real. People sugarcoat things for the screen, he doesn't do that''.
The Geetha Govindam actress added, ''It's so amazing because nobody else does that in cinema. He is a very smart director. Why there is so much anticipation for the film, is only because we are living people's lives which is so real to the core and we are nothing to lie about those characters''.
For the unversed, both 'Arjun Reddy' and 'Kabir Singh' were highly criticized for violence, misogyny and glorification of toxic masculinity.
Earlier, in an interview, Ranbir also defended the films. He told Variety, “Well, to be honest, I was really drawn to the script of Animal. It’s a unique and intense story that immediately caught my attention. As for watching Arjun Reddy or Kabir Singh, I must admit that I did watch both films and found them to be incredibly powerful and impactful. However, my decision to accept Animal was not solely based on those films. It was more about the script, the character, and the opportunity to work with Sandeep Reddy Vanga''.
Coming back to 'Animal', the film was earlier supposed to be released on September 28. It will now hit the screens on December 1 in Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada.