Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga, during a recent interview, talked about Bobby Deol’s character Abrar in his film 'Animal', and explained why he is a Muslim, despite being from the same family as Ranbir Kapoor’s Ranvijay, who is a Sikh.
In an interview, the filmmaker shared how people undergo conversions after having experienced setbacks, and that’s what the character of Abrar did. Speaking to Galatta Plus, Vanga mentioned how the most vulnerable people are likely to turn to religion and superstition.
In the film, Abrar is traumatised after his grandfather’s death and becomes mute. Later, when his brother is killed, he decides to go on a rampage against Ranvijay. It is later revealed that they are related.
He said, “I’ve seen people, when they enter a zone of zero confidence, people will come and say to them, ‘Go to a church, or go to a baba, he’ll give some taweez, change your name…’ I’ve seen people changing their religion because so much has happened to them. At a low point, they feel like it’s a new birth, it’s a change of identity completely… We see a lot of people converting to Islam and Christianity; we never see anybody converting to Hinduism. So, I thought I’ll use this, because you can get multiple wives in Islam. I can have multiple cousins with different faces; the drama will be bigger. That’s the only reason. There was no intention to show a Muslim in a bad light…”
‘Animal’ has been slammed by the critics and the audience for its misogyny and violence, and also for the scene when Abrar violently belittles his wives after he learns about his brother’s death.
Earlier, when asked about the marital rape scene in the film, Bobby said in an interview with The Quint, “I’m not trying to promote anything. Yes, it was required. How do you showcase a character in such a short span, show what this man is capable of, what kind of person he is? All these scenes were required.”
Bobby even revealed how his mother, Prakash Kaur, couldn’t bear to watch the film. He mentioned to PinkVilla, “My mom couldn’t handle my death scene. She was like, ‘Aisi film mat kiya kar tu, mujhse nahi dekha jaata (You shouldn’t do films like this, I can’t watch them).” I told her, ‘Look, I’m standing in front of you, I just played a part’. But she’s very happy… The amount of phone calls she’s getting, all her friends want to meet me. Something similar happened when Aashram released.”
The film, which also stars Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor and Triptii Dimri, has become the third-biggest Indian film of the year, and is just behind Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’ and ‘Pathaan’.
