Sargun Mehta BASHES Those Questioning Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal: ‘Saari Seekh Films Ke Liye Chod Di?’

Despite being a box office hit, Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial Animal sparked a massive debate. The Ranbir Kapoor starrer was widely questioned after its release in December 2023, with many accusing the makers of glorifying misogyny and toxic masculinity. In a recent interview, Sargun Mehta opened up about the backlash that Animal faced and questioned those slamming the film. She backed Vanga saying “he has done his research” and called Animal Ranbir Kapoor’s “breakthrough” movie.

“Aab hume decide karna padega kya humne saari seekh filmo ke liye hi chod di hai? Agar aisa hai toh school bandh kar dete hai,” Sargun said while speaking to Siddharth Kannan recently.

“The simple idea of cinema is to project a character which is existent. In some part of this world, there is somebody like the character of Animal. Here, in our world also. If you don’t want to show it, you want to hide it then that’s your problem. I feel he (Sandeep) pulled me into a world saying – ‘This is a man who is doing all these things and I see that he is wrong’. It was not that when Ranbir Kapoor’s character whitewashed his wrongdoings. The wrongs were also shown,” she continued.

Sargun admitted that Ranbir Kapoor’s character in Animal was flawed and added, “I also saw that the character is written which is so flawed that he is not learning from his mistakes and getting up again as it is. He is like that. He is so obsessed with his father that he can’t see anything else. So he has made a character definition.”

Released on December 1, 2023, Animal revolved around a man and his toxic relationship with his father. The film showed Vijay (played by Ranbir) as an anti-hero who would go to any lengths to protect his father, including gun down 200 people with machine gun. However, despite his efforts, he struggled to get a seal of approval from his emotionally unavailable father (played by Anil Kapoor). The film earned over Rs 900 crore at the box office.