Animal Star Cast/ Actors: Ranbir Kapoor as Ranvijay Singh, Anil Kapoor as Balbir Singh, Ranvijay’s father, Bobby Deol as Abrar Haque, Rashmika Mandanna as Geetanjali Singh, Ranvijay’s wife, Tripti Dimri as Zoya, Babloo Prithiveeraj as Asrar Haque, Shakti Kapoor as Mishra, Prem Chopra as Bade Daarji, Suresh Oberoi as Dadaji, and Siddhant Karnick as Varun.
Animal Release Date: December 1, 2023
Animal Available On: Theatrical release (and likely to be released on Netflix OTT Platform)
Animal Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam
Animal Runtime: 202 Minutes
Animal Critic Review:
Making a departure from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Rohit Shetty’s Cop Universe, Dharma Productions’ Astra Verse and YRF’s Spy Universe, Sandeep Reddy Vanga labels his franchise Animal Park. But make no mistake. It’s no romp in the park when Rannvijay Singh (Ranbir Kapoor) is on the loose. Rannvijay, like director Sandeep Reddy Vanga, is a horse that defies breaking-in, you rein him at your own peril.
It’s a long, long film that has a lot of demons running around. Rannvijay has issues with everybody. His daddy Balbir Singh (Anil Kapoor), VIP guests he won’t greet, a brother-in-law he detests.
As Vanga did with Kabir Singh, the romance is unbridled snatch-and-smooch, both young adults consenting, consummating perilously and deliriously on a plane in mid-air, with the pilot making love to his wife.
It’s the unpredictability of his screenplay that makes Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s cinema such a magnet for the youthful audience, with unexpected twists, a roughness that’s startling and a storytelling that’s on perennial steroids.
Rannvijay addressing the workers, recruiting his own army of Sikh cousins and spewing revenge with rage, is edgy cinema at its best especially when fresh chapters are frequently opened with a Zoya (Tripti Dimrii) and an Abrar (Bobby Deol) walking in for further blood lust.
There’s wife Geetanjali (Rashmika Mandanna) who describes Rannvijay to her parents in a way only someone who deeply cares can. She’s also a wife with spunk who can slap hard and spar like a tigress when there’s infidelity. But the overpowering tone is masculine testosterone.
Crude, lewd pelvic gestures, even a reference to Geetanjali’s pelvis which can deliver healthy children, underwear tantrums, bits of nudity, words like ‘penis’ and ‘how many times do you have sex’, a bride ravished by the groom in front of everybody, a woman told to lick his boots… All the toxicity associated with Vanga gushes around unchecked, adding to its unvarnished appeal and badass humour.
Along with co-writers Suresh Bandaru, Pranay Reddy Vanga and Saurabh Gupta, Sandeep serves such a range of action and emotions that the long running time is of little consequence. Every action sequence, however stretched it may be, is choreographed with care and bone-breaking bloodiness. There’s even one where the Sikh cousins sing like a band and watch as Rannvijay demolishes waves of masked men with a hammer. A Maharashtrian appears unveiling a Made In India killing machine for Rannvijay, adding one more flavour to the action that never stops.
Sandeep also uses background songs for the narration to move forward and to introduce a new situation, sometimes using the signature tune of ‘Papa mere’ only as a whistle.
Besides the gut-wrench of a Tarantino film and a hat tip to our good old mythologies where family feuds lead to bloody wars, it’s a leaf out of Godfather when there’s a sudden car blast in the presence of the second woman or a traitor is brutally killed even if it results in a widowed sister. Balbir Singh and Rannvijay meeting after a long silence and mouthing the same complaint against each other is also reminiscent of Amitabh and Shah Rukh in K3G.
Every bit of goodness that Ranbir Kapoor has portrayed over 17 years of acting is flushed out with the beast he unleashes as Rannvijay Singh, making this one of the most effective performances of his career. The edgy protagonist high on gun-blazing rage with menace always just a second away is Ranbir never seen before. Anil Kapoor, adding an additional crease of worry to his forehead each time his un-reined son does the unexpected, gives gravitas to Balbir Singh. Of course, Bobby Deol who in the wake of Ashram has uncovered skills he didn’t know existed in him, is explosive.
Unlike a lot of filmmakers who have lately made the mistake of spraying unknown, grotesque faces all over the screen, the casting adds interest to every character. From a spirited Rashmika Mandanna and a likeable Tripti Dimrii to veterans like Prem Chopra, Suresh Oberoi and Shakti Kapoor, the familiarity is comforting.
A note to Vanga: More appropriate than Animal Park would have been Animal Kingdom as there’s always another animal around to rule the next instalment.
Animal – Watch Or Not?: This is for young adults who root for raw, uncontrolled energy and for admirers of noir cinema.
Animal Review Score Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Animal Official Trailer:
Animal Official Trailer (Credit: T-Series)
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