Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead, received polarising reactions. The film went onto collect over Rs. 800 crore worldwide. The film, released on December 1 in 2023, is still running in theatres and currently streaming on Netflix. In a recent chat, Vanga revealed that he was sad by veteran writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar's criticism towards the film. He said that he should rather look into Farhan Akhtar’s work.
Speaking in an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Vanga said, “It is very clear that he did not watch the film. It’s very clear in that comment that he did not see the entire film. Now if someone is talking without watching the film, what can I say about them? Obviously, you feel bad because it is very clear that he has not seen the film and not only about him, anybody who is throwing stones on an art piece, why don’t they check their surroundings first?”
He continued, “Why didn’t he tell the same thing to Farhan Akhtar when he was producing Mirzapur. Duniya bhar ke gaali Mirzapur ek show mein hai and I haven’t watched the whole show. When the show was translated to Telugu, if you watch that, then you will feel like puking. Why is he not checking his son’s work?”
Javed Akhtar had criticised a particular scene in the movie where Triptii Dimri's Zoya is asked to lick the show of Ranbir Kapoor’s Ranvijay. “If there’s a film in which a man asks a woman to lick his shoe or if a man says it’s okay to slap a woman… and the film is a super hit, that’s dangerous,” Akhtar had said.
Animal also stars Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Triptii Dimri, Prem Chopra and Suresh Oberoi among others. ALSO READ: Ranveer Singh spoke to Sandeep Reddy Vanga for 40 minutes on phone after watching Animal: “He sent such a lengthy message that I had read three-four times”
