Animal Review – Bold, Violent And Not For Everyone!

“I’ll show them what a violent film will be” – And he bloody did it !!

This Animal review will be full of spoilers. Avoid reading if you haven’t watched it yet. Dekh lo fir padhna. Aur jo dekh chuke hain, detergent ka khayal rakhna warna rash ho jayega.

Introduction and Setup

When the film began with the old Ranbir in Black & White, multiple thoughts rushed through my mind. One, chalo Ranbir marega nahi end mein. Two, it’s a creative way to start a film. Three, what’s the point of this story? And this was answered when Bobby does it.

The initial sequence where Ranbir fights with his Jija and sisters shows how messed up the family dynamics are. If you are someone who notices the characters and situations in movies with dept, you will know that the scene was very well executed and brilliantly acted out.

The part where young Ranbir goes to the college for his sister was also pretty impactful. It showed how he was high-tempered, reckless and violent from a young age. The slapping continued from his childhood till adulthood, very well showing that the father-son relationship was in tatters.

Ranbir – The Animal

Bhari dialogues, maar-kaat aur dhoom dhadake ke sath violence toh fir bhi easy hai, lekin sirf aankho se janwar-pana dikha de.. wo hai asli actor. He embodies the Animal within him so well. The two scenes I spoke above are very good examples where Ranbir sells the character with his eyes, expressions and shear talent. This is one film where you can easily identify who is a good actor and who is not so much.

Ranbir maintains the body language through different phases of Ranvijay’s life. He is one of those actors who act when other are saying the dialogues. “Acting Is Reacting.” Ye phase suna hoga. Kaafi bar actors react nahi karte kaafi blank rehte hain, but not Ranbir. He is so brilliant with all his co-actors that no matter what the scene is, he steals it. Alpha!

The ‘Sunai De Raha Hai, Behra Nahi Hu Main’ scene was again so good. How many popular stars of today will eb able to pull that off? The intensity in his eyes was so impactful. And the way Anil Kapoor had broken down in this scene, a side he had not shown in the entire film.

One of my most favourite scene is the one where Ranbir is hugging Shakti Kapoor and crying. We see a lot of crying in movies and they are good no doubt but this was something else. It was long, it was painful, it was hitting right in the gut. Like me, many would have also thought that Ranbir the actor might have invoked his inner emotion for this real life father for this scene. It was sad but beautiful.

Rashmika Madanna

Let’s start with the scene jispe hadd se zyada memes bane, haan wahi dialogue jo samajh nahi aa raha tha. But film mein pura samajh aya. So there are always multiple takes and sometimes different cuts are used in the trailer and the film. This was definitely a different cut in the film. Rashmika re-uhhh-lly did well in this scene I’ll give her that. Overall too she was good. But given how brilliant the other actors were, she was just not up to the mark. That scene I mentioned above, any well trained and experienced actor would have made the scene much much better.

Bobby Deol

Pata nahi main aisa kya bol sakta hu jo pehle na bol diya gaya ho. People love him and were hyped for him since the beginning. Anybody who has seen Aashram and Love Hostel knows how good he is as a baddie. He was an Animal himself, different from Ranbir but an Animal for sure. That shot from the teaser when he calls his two wives inside, one of them says, “Ye nayi hai, inko apka style pata nahi.” Hilarious. Only complain that we wanted more, no doubt about it. This was just not enough.

Anil Kapoor

Koi tareef nahi karunga main. Zarurat hi nahi. We all know how talented he is and he showed it in every single shot. What-a-player! Ekdum Jhakaas!

Tripti Dimri

Haaye.. dil le gayi yar. Upar humne acting telent ki baat kari. Ab yaha notice kiya hoga ki kitne kam time mein kitna impact de gayi. Her chemistry with Ranbir was much better than that of Rashmika’s. Tripti is not just a pretty face but a very good actress. Wish to see more of her projects soon.

Writing

Intro and setup was great. Spoke about it above. The father-son relationship, the bond, the childhood trauma a lot of sons go through all over the world was shown really well. Ranbir’s character was very complex. Rashmika’s too, she goes through a lot in her arc. There were several subplots that blended very well with the main storyline. I liked how Sandeep Reddy Vanga tried to show a true pan-India film without shoving it down our throats. The Singhs were punjabis, Geetanjali was from a Telugu family, Freddy (the arms dealer) was Marathi, and they even mentioned made in India.

The toxic masculinity mindset, the violence and gore, the adult jokes among peers, any talk or mention around sex came very naturally and not forced, such as in films like Grand Masti.

In the second half, Bobby Deol’s character should have been explored more and few other scenes could have been trimmed. The heart-transplant part could have been cut down, it was nice but a long chunk. It could have been replaced by more of what Bobby Deol was planning, like how things were moving in the first half. Tripti could have been introduced with some other reason, and there should have been a little more build-up before the final fight on the airstrip.

Music

I loved the music choices. That constant different versions whistling sound was there in so many places. Hua Main had a hint of rock, Arjan Vailly was Punjabi, Sari Duniya Jala Denge was an adaptation from Punjabi folk song, when Ranbir had the headphones on there was a Marathi song playing. Young Ranbir dancing on a rendition of Chhoti si Asha was so good. And that music which played at Bobby Deol’s entry. Samajh Nahi Aya Par Sunn Ke Accha Laga. All these tell you a lot about the ability and efforts put by a director. But my most favourite was Papa Meri Jaan due to the perfect in depth meaningful lyrics and Sonu Nigam’s voice.

Direction

Sandeep Reddy Vanga is a visionary no doubt about it. He has thought of so many things in this film that would not come in your mind normally. It’s such a long film yet you are hooked and do not get bored. Obviously itni der ek seat pe baithne ki adat nahi hai toh wo cheez feel hoti hai, lekin kuch na kuch humesha chal raha hai film mein and bar bar aap sochte ho, ki “ye expect nahi kiya tha”.

There are long films in the world such as The Godfather, Lord of the Rings, Troy, etc. So I do not agree with anyone who says film was long or boring, it just means you are used to the reel culture, shorter content, high-end elevation scenes and don’t have the appetite for good cinema.

The title comes around 40 mins into the film. Ranbir’s name in the film is revealed at interval. At this point I though, ‘haan yar abhi tak iska naam hi nahi pata humein’. The body double, the hallway axe battle, the war machine gun, the affects on the body after the interval block, the swastik logo and drawing parallel with hitler, opening scene, the antagonists and the post credit. So many artistic choices, you can realise the effort put in by the director. Wis more directors start doing that in whatever the genre and story they wish to make. Please think out of the box and put efforts. It will always be loved and respected.

Balls of Steel

Sandeep Reddy Vanga does not shy away from showing what he wants to. Very rarely it happens in India that a director dares to create something that others would not even imagine or dare to attempt. It was said about Ram Gopal Varma, then Anurag Kashyap and now SRV.

We often talk about directors not trying something new like Hollywood or other countries do. Here he does that multiple times in a single film. Action in films like War, Tiger 3 and Pathaan are stylized, such as in Mission Impossible and James Bond. Those are nice as well. But in Animal it gets gory and dirty. After strangling his Jija, he shoots him – thrice. Bobby Deol stabs the messenger several times. The brutal slashing in the hallway sequence. He dared to go dirty.

And the War Machine Gun. I searched a lot but a gatling gun of this size does not exist in the world. Neither in real or in fiction. The production designer has mentioned that I was entirely Sandeep’s vision. They made it using real steel and it weighs around 500 kg. Obviously it does not fire real bullets. That was Vfx but they made a working prop. The execution in the film was flawless and epic.

I follow a lot of fashion photography, share a lot of photoshoots on instagram. But one frame that blew my mind is the one where Ranvijay and Zoya are lying naked after sex. People are only talking about the sexual part but artistically it is such a beautiful frame.

The Outrage

People need to understand that a film is just a “Film”. Everybody knew before walking int what they were getting into. The certification was ‘A’, you know the director’s history, he has openly said there would be more than than what you have seen or imagined. Yet you are stepping into the theatre and then complaining means you want to complain and nothing else.

If you are appalled by the violence, watch some films by Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, watch Al Pacino’s Scarface, watch some Korean and Japanese films. Watch some slasher films. Watch the Spartacus series. The lack of consumption of world cinema is also a reason why our audience does not evolve. If alright if you do not like a particular kind of films. you can avoid it. But you wanna act cool and woke so you will jump into the trending bandwagon and start bashing to get likes.

Art imitates life. Toxic and violent men do exist in the world. Nobody is asking you to like them. It’s a film and you have a choice to watch it or skip it after watching the trailer. Nobody is going home and killing people or talking to their wives and girlfriends in an ill-manner after watching the film. Those men who are like that, they don’t need a film to do that. These things have been happening since centuries when films did not exist.

So no need to blame films for everything that is wrong in the world. Nobody adapts to do the good when they show it in films. Election aa rahe hain, dekhte hain jitne log Jawan se inspire hoke sawal puchte hain vote dene se pehle.

Final Fight

I don’t know why people are not talking about the final fist fight between Ranbir And Bobby Deol on the airstrip. Extra stylised “goosebumps moments nahi the isliye? It was very well executed if you were able to relate with the characters. B Praak’s song fitted very well in the sequence, the lyrics went well, both the characters had their reasons, no matter how flawed they were.

Ranvijay still gave him a chance for his father and grandfather, he had gone to his village, he was now close to his cousins so he considered that. Only wanted that he promised to not come after his father. But Abrar had only one agenda in life. He knew he could not live without fulfilling it. So he chose to die instead. His half-brother Abid cried but could not help him. I loved this entire sequence.

Post Credit and Animal Park

Aziz Haque – bhai asli Animal toh ye hai. The way he butchers the two men. Damn!!
Well Rolex is a better character for sure. But jis tarah ka brutal killer dikhaya hai, jis tarah se Ranbir ne usko execute kiya hai, as a killer, as an Animal, Aziz is way above Rolex. Please note, main character aur brutality ko alag karke bol raha hu, dono ko compare nahi kar raha. Parallels bas isliye hain kyuki dono end mein ate hain, kaat-te hain, aur poori movie ke sabse khatarnak character ban jate hain, leaving the audience with a high.

People are shouting sequel sequel but I don’t think Animal Park ayegi. First of all Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s next two film are with Prabhas and Allu Arjun. In dono ko ate ate 5 saal lag jayenge minimum. Then SRV wants to work with Ram Charan and Mahesh Babu too. He already has a script titled ‘Devil’ which is different from Animal Park. After so many years, Ranbir may not want to do this film. Such things keep happening and sequels in India are not guaranteed.

Chalo ati bhi hai, toh 5 saal minimum lagenge,a maybe more. Toh abhi se excited hone ka koi matlab nahi hai ek minor si possibility ko leke. I would rather see it as an open-ended film and I am very satisfied as of now.

Ch-Ch-Phew

That last shot, that gesture of ‘Talwar wala Bandar’, I feel that was for the critics. And for everyone who has a problem with the film. What do you think?

Verdict

Nahi deta main stars, nahi dunga iss bar bhi. If you are thinking theatre jau ya nahi, toh Kabir Singh ko yaad karlo, Animal ka trailer dekh lo, uska 10x imagine karlo aur khud se pucho ki ye style, ye genre pasand hai? Agar haan toh zarur jao bahaut maza ayega. If you feel this is not for you, then don’t go, baad mein complain mat karne. For guys under 18, kya bolu yar risk hai ghus gaye toh theek, rok liya toh paise waste. I can’t help you, ott ka wait karlo.

Also check out Animal Phone Wallpapers here

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