Images instagrammed by Manoj Bajpayee and Ranbir Kapoor fanpage. (courtesy: Manoj Bajpayee )
Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal released in December last year but the conversation around it refuses to die. Manoj Bajpayee, who is gearing up for his next release Bhaiyya Ji, talked about how he perceives the conversation around Animal in an interview with Pinkvilla. Manoj Bajpayee told Pinkvilla, "I am very clear. If many people disagree or don't like a film, what's wrong with that? The film is released, does its business, and moves on. The money goes into the producer's pocket; let them take it; they invested in the movie." ICYDK, Animal has been slammed by a large section of audience and critics for its portrayal of violence, misogyny and problematic masculinity.
Manoj Bajpayee believes that spreading negative words about a movie harms the film's business. He told Pinkvilla, "If you don't want to watch it, then don't. If you disagree with something, it's better not to watch it, but don't create trouble for the movie. You will be only encouraging a bad notion by doing so, what if others hinder your work in the same way? There should be open discourse without calls for bans or protests."
Celebrities like Javed Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma also expressed their thoughts on the film and they didn't approve of the content of the film. However, filmmakers like Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap applauded the film for its style of making without delving much into the moral fabric of the film. At the Forbes India Leadership Awards 2024, Karan Johar said, "I didn't go deep into the moral communication of the film - I was so swept by the narrative and the way the filmmaker told the story of it through sound design, screenplay, dialogue, character development, that as a filmmaker, I loved it."
Recently, Anurag Kashyap, who earlier shared an appreciation post for Sandeep Reddy Vanga on his social media, defended his liking for the film on daughter Aaliyah Kashyap's podcast show Young, Dumb & Anxious. He said on the show, "This man (Sandeep Reddy Vanga) is, what you see is what he is. People may like Animal, they may not like Animal, but Animal is a major tectonic shift in the way films will be made. People will realise its impact in 5-10 years from now."
Despite receiving criticism, Animal minted a whopping amount of money at the box office. Animal also won five Filmfare Awards this year including Ranbir Kapoor's trophy in the Best Actor (Popular) category.