Animal — Film Review

By Harrish Thirukumaran

Animal is a film that piqued my interest because I learned of it through its highly controversial reviews and commentary. It is a Hindi action gangster drama film, released in theaters worldwide on December 1, 2023. It stars Ranbir Kapoor as Rannvijay Singh Balbir and Anil Kapoor as Balbir Singh, the two pivotal characters. It is directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Production was completed by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Murad Khetani, and Pranay Reddy Vanga.

At the centre of this portrayal is the story of Rannvijay seeking to avenge his father, Balbir Singh, a mighty industrialist, after a failed assassination attempt. It also serves as an exploration of the father and son relationship from start to finish. It comes full circle albeit in a real, convoluted way towards the film’s ending, to speak about child neglect and its consequences. Vanga sought to showcase this quest as being a parallel to the dynamics of the animal kingdom. He succeeds in that in his writing of the character and the visuals of the film. However, Animal is a messy film because the extreme levels of violence are not justified enough by the story itself. More clarity was needed here to fully develop this story within a plot driven purely by Vijay’s violent behaviour that stems from his fatherless childhood.

Its action sequences are brutally violent, which get quite ridiculous, if not comical, during different scenes in the film. It presents larger themes within Indian society today that includes toxic masculinity. Also, in a subtle way, it comments on Indian nationalism where Rannvijay is supplied with a gun turret made exclusively in India.

Geetanjali, played by Rashmika Mandanna, seems to have no specific motivations in relation to Rannvijay. Her decision to marry him is not well explained in the film, though it may stem from sharing a childhood with Vijay. For instance, Vijay inappropriately comments on Geetanjali’s body and her child bearing ability. This spoke to how in Indian society things like caste, education and family matter greatly in marriage proposals. Yet this scene described love and romance as more of a natural mating process found in the animal kingdom as opposed to modern marriage proposals. It is more rational where it looks at the male being a hunter gatherer, while the female can bear and care for the children. This was a point of view expressed by Vijay towards Geetanjali yet it did not seem as if she were fully convinced.

Despite its obvious flaws, the camerawork is excellent in evoking the animalistic nature of Vijay. There is a well shot scene depicting Vijay killing an enemy in a chokehold. It spins slowly through a bird’s eye view as we, the audience, witness this action. It serves as a human equivalent to the predator stalking and eliminating its prey. Vijay is like a tiger killing a deer, where this accomplishment leaves him in exhaustion from such a challenging activity.

Earlier in the film, the family gathers for a portrait. The way Rannvijay is positioned next to his father is like that of an attack dog guarding its owner. This protection extends not only to his father physically, but also to his business interests. In later scenes where he expresses his anger, Vijay’s overall look is similar to that of a lion in the wild.

At the same time, the film soundtrack displays Vijay’s deranged and obsessive behaviour rooted in his father, particularly ‘Papa Meri Jaan’. There is a creepiness in it of a son in search of love from his father. Consequently, this results in an unhealthy love and obsession for his father because of his lack of presence in Vijay’s life that starts in his childhood.

A theme of accountability surfaces throughout the questionable, violent events that take place in the film involving Vijay. Although different in their natures, both Balbir Singh, Vijay’s father, and Rannvijay are similar in that they lack self-accountability. They are only different in their approaches to strengthen and protect the company. It’s a twisted version of a father meeting a twisted version of a son and the way they express or define their love. Vijay justifying killing Varun to his sister, Reet, played by Saloni Batra, feels like an interesting homage to the scene from The Godfather where Michael consoles an angry Connie for killing her husband for activities against the family.

Adultery, although a relatively recent cultural wrongdoing, is showcased from the female point-of-view as being demonstrably worse than something like murder. The latter has been commonly understood as a wrongdoing since the start of human history. We see this as Geetanjali is furious at Vijay for cheating on her with another woman to advance his father’s interests, but brushed aside the murders he commits throughout the film. It is also important to note this bias from Geentanjali is highlighted by Rannvijay himself.

In a sense, Animal is a messy, confusing film that showcases toxic masculinity and sexism as well as indulges unnecessarily in violence to present this point. It only scratches the surface around its story of child neglect and could have done more in its writing and pacing for this story with its long runtime. Regardless, it’s use of the camera to evoke Rannvijay as belonging within an animal kingdom is effective and clever.