Filmmakers Karan Johar and Sandeep Reddy Vanga recently appeared together for a round-table interview along with Rima Das and Rani Mukerji. During the Galatta Plus round-table, KJo said, “People have come up to me after I spoke about how much I loved Animal, and said, ‘You have made Rocky Aur Rani,’ That’s the vaccination for a film like Animal. It’s the opposite extreme. I said that I could not disagree with you more, because Animal to me is the best film of the year. It took me a while to reach to this statement and a lot of courage because when you are around people, you fear judgment. Like during the time of Kabir Singh, which I also loved…I was like I am going to say this, and I am going to get dirty looks from certain people, but I don’t care anymore.”
The filmmaker added, “I loved Animal for its front-footed, absolutely conviction-based narrative storytelling, breaking grammar, breaking myths, breaking everything that you think conforms to mainstream cinema. Suddenly, you have an interval block where the hero is getting bashed up, and everyone’s singing a song…I am like, ‘Where have you seen a sequence like this?’ It’s genius. The end, where the two men are going for each other, and they play that song…I had tears in my eyes, but there was only blood. So I was like something is wrong with me or something is wrong with him, but something put together is very right about this film. This is not an average-thinking mind. This is a mind of someone who is so distinct, so individualistic that I was blown away. I saw the film twice, first to see as an audience member and second to study it. I think the success, and acceptance of Animal is game-changing. The conviction is something that I want to have.”
Animal has taken the box office by storm since its debut. Boasting a stellar cast including Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, and Triptii Dimri, the film has not only raked in robust collections but has also left fans thoroughly delighted. The viral scenes, particularly those depicting the intense chemistry between Ranbir’s character Ranvijay and Triptii’s Zoya have become a talking point. The film emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film in Australia and Canada recently. Australia and Canada are the best-performing markets for Animal.
