“All Your Art Form Is Big False”: ‘Animal’ Makers Slam Javed Akhtar After He Calls Film’s Success “Dangerous”
‘Animal’ makers hit back at Javed Akhtar after the lyricist termed the success of Ranbir Kapoor-starrer “dangerous”.
Filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga, known for the Telugu hit ‘Arjun Reddy’ and its blockbuster Hindi remake ‘Kabir Singh’, came out with his third directorial venture ‘Animal’. Starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role, the 2023 Hindi movie turned out to be the second biggest hit of Indian cinema in 2023. But the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer continues to evoke polarised reactions from the audience. ‘Animal’, which also stars Rashmika Mandanna, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, Triptii Dimri and Shakti Kapoor, is still being bashed for its portrayal of toxic masculinity and misogyny despite having grossed over Rs 500 crore in India.
For the unversed, certain scenes in ‘Animal’ are being termed as highly problematic by critics and a section of the viewers. One particular scene shows Ranbir Kapoor’s Rannvijay telling Triptii Dimri’s Zoya to “lick” his shoes.
Recently, famous lyricist Javed Akhtar had called the success of ‘Animal’ “dangerous” and he said that the onus lies on the audience to make the film a success or not.
“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,” he had said at an event.
The official X (formerly Twitter) account of ‘Animal’ has tagged Javed Akhtar, saying that if the veteran missed the context of the above-mentioned scene, then all his art form is “false.”
The account also mentioned that love should be “free from the politics of gender.”
“Writer of your calibre cannot understand the betrayal of a lover (Between Zoya & Ranvijay) then all your art form is big FALSE & If a woman (betrayed and fooled by a man in the name of love) would have said “lick my shoe” then you guys would have celebrated it by calling it feminism. Let love be free from the politics of gender. Let’s just call them lovers. LOVER cheated and lied. LOVER said lick my shoe. Period @Javedakhtarjadu,” the post read.
Check out the post here:
Writer of your calibre cannot understand the betrayal of a lover (Between Zoya & Ranvijay) then all your art form is big FALSE & If a woman (betrayed and fooled by a man in the name of love) would have said "lick my shoe" then you guys would have celebrated it by calling it…
— Animal The Film (@AnimalTheFilm) January 7, 2024
This is not the first time that the official X page of ‘Animal’ has hit back at criticism directed towards the film.
The handle had previously slammed writer-actor Swanand Kirkire, film critic Anupam Chopra, and journalists who called the film out.
For the unversed, ‘Animal’ recently went past Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan’ to become the second-highest-grosser of 2023 after ‘Jawan’.
Recently, the makers of ‘Animal’ had hosted a success bash in Mumbai and it was attended by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, Bhushan Kumar, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Rashmika Mandanna, Bobby Deol, Anil Kapoor, and Triptii Dimri, among several others.
