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Animal dialogue writer defends Ranbir Kapoor's lines, says there is a lot of burden today: ‘Hum thoda maza karte hai na’
Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal starring Ranbir Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna was surrounded with controversy post-release; many called it ‘misogynistic’.
Even months after release, Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal continues to garner attention. The dialogue writer of Animal, Saurabh Gupta, was in conversation with Ghazal Dhaliwal, at FICCI Frames, where he defended the film and said that there is a lot of pressure these days for any film to talk about a number of issues. He also spoke about Ranbir Kapoor's pad-change lines, the portrayal of Abrar Haque as a ‘stereotypical’ Muslim character. (Also read: Rashmika Mandanna reveals why ‘she’s not taking ownership' of her blockbuster Animal's 'massive' success)
On the controversies
In the video posted by Brut India on Instagram, Sourabh opened up about the controversies that have been associated with the film's lead character played by Ranbir Kapoor and shared his opinion on it. He said, “Cinema ke saath mardon ko sanitary napkin ki importance samjhana, cigarette peena, sharab peena kharab hai woh samjhana, itna bojh padh gaya hai, cinema jhuk gaya hai sir. Hum thoda maza karte hai na. (In Cinema, to make men understand the importance of sanitary napkins, that smoking and drinking is bad, all of this has become a huge burden. Let's also have some fun).”
About the representation of Muslim character
Animal shows a violent world set against the backdrop of a troubled relationship between Ranbir's Ranvijay Singh and his father Balbir Singh, played by Anil Kapoor. Bobby Deol plays the antagonist named Abrar Haque, a Muslim character. Reacting to the alleged Islamophobia in the film, Saurabh said, “We felt it fit logically into the script… Now we are realising that there is this view as well. But the hero (Ranbir) is as much of a demon as the villain (Bobby). And he's a Hindu, but no one said that he was portrayed badly.”
Saurabh also agreed that there is a larger problem with how a community is portrayed in the recent films and said that it is a discussion that needs to be had on a ‘broader level.’
Animal also stars Triptii Dimri, Shakti Kapoor and Prem Chopra. The movie is produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar's T-Series, Murad Khetani's Cine1 Studios and Pranay Reddy Vanga's Bhadrakali Pictures. It collected over ₹800 crore at the box office.
