Karan Johar Defends Praising ‘Animal’, Says He Saw It As “Character Film”
Karan Johar has defended his comments on ‘Animal’, saying he saw the Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial as a “character film”.
Sandeep Reddy Vanga, known for the Telugu hit ‘Arjun Reddy’ and its blockbuster Hindi remake ‘Kabir Singh’, came out with ‘Animal’ in 2023. The Hindi movie, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Bobby Deol, Triptii Dimri, and Anil Kapoor, was released in cinemas in December 2023. Despite being bashed for glorifying toxic masculinity and misogyny, ‘Animal’ went on to do a business of more than Rs 900 crore worldwide. And while it has been months since its release, the 2023 Hindi movie continues to dominate the social media discourse.
Last year, filmmaker-producer Karan Johar had dubbed ‘Animal’ as the best movie of 2023. Now, KJo has defended his comments, saying he saw ‘Animal’ as a “character film”.
“There’s been a lot of debate on Animal. People have expressed opinions, stood for it or against it – the filmmaker himself has been very vocal about his feelings. Personally, truly honestly, I saw it as a character film based on a character who was deeply dysfunctional, inherently violent, who had many emotional issues – and I loved the treatment,” Karan Johar said at the Forbes India Leadership Awards 2024.
“I didn’t go deep into the moral communication of the film – I was so swept by the narrative and the way the filmmaker told the story of it through sound design, screenplay, dialogue, character development, that as a filmmaker, I loved it,” he added.
Speaking further about his assessment, Karan Johar said, “Here are people who have called me and expressed their opinions – and agreed or disagreed with me. I have to be honest about my emotion attached to a film I’ve seen, and if it comes with criticism or flak, then I have to accept it with open arms. And if it comes with an embrace, I have to accept that as well.”
For the unversed, ‘Animal’ was massively slammed for its misogynistic narrative, triggering scenes and violence.
The social media chatter around the film continues to grow after the film premiered on Netflix in January 2024.
Earlier, the likes of Javed Akhtar and Swanand Kirkire had slammed ‘Animal’.
