Filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s ‘Animal’, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead, has been raking in moolah at the box office. However, despite its humongous success, the film’s audience is divided and it has proven to be a tough watch for several people.
Recently, Ranbir’s onscreen sister Saloni Batra mentioned how the way Ranbir’s character behaves is toxic, his onscreen brother-in-law Siddhant Karnick has now said that he also felt that certain scenes in the film were unsettling. In the film, Siddhant plays Varun, Ranbir Kapoor’s brother-in-law.
In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, the actor was asked about some of the scenes in ‘Animal’ that a section of the viewers find problematic. “It is my duty as an artiste to make you feel, it is my duty as a good artiste to make you feel intensely. How you react after that is not my responsibility,” the actor said.
When questioned about an actor’s social responsibility, Siddhant said if that is the goal, he would choose to do social message campaigns. “Ads where I talk about sanitary pads and say smoking is injurious to health. But when I am telling a story, please allow me the creative liberty to tell that character’s story as authentically as it has been written. Main koi lecture ya moralistic cheezein nahi batana chahta. I want to play a character the way it is written.”
On one hand, the film has been creating Bollywood box office history. But on the other hand, it has been under the scanner for its misogyny, which is triggering the audience. In fact, in one scene, Ranbir’s character asks Triptii Dimri’s character to lick his shoe in order to prove that he indeed loves him, after she is thought to be a mole.
Talking about the particular scene, Siddhant said that he is still “processing” it because he was also taken aback by it. “It was unsettling, but I also felt, ‘Wow, what a choice for a character and a very courageous choice to make for the director.’ At the end of the day, Sandeep sir is getting the flak. That’s when he turned an anti-hero from a hero,” he said.
“That’s what portrayed the man’s psycho-ness. That he is good but he also has these deep dark traits. That was a very fine line for Vijay to turn villain, it is not easy to tread on. I felt damn unsettled with that scene. But now when I think about it, it was also so good, it makes you react,” Siddhant signed off.
Directed and edited by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the film also stars Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna and Triptii Dimri. It hit the cinema halls on December 1 and clashed with Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Sam Bahadur’ at the box office.
