'Animal' makers now hit out at Akhtar; 'nothing goes beyond love for movie', says Ranbir

After writer and lyricist Javed Akhtar made a critical comment about the success of films like 'Animal', the makers have now hit back at the Bollywood veteran on social media.

At a film event, Javed Akhtar had said that filmmakers are confused about how to portray the hero in films anymore. There is no awareness about what kind of characters they want to create and went on to cite an example. He remarked, "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 if the film is a super duper hit, then that's very dangerous." He did not mention Animal, however, it was clear he was referring to this Sandeep Reddy Vanga film in which a man asks a woman to lick his shoe in one of the scenes.

Now, the makers of Animal have been quick to slam Akhtar's comments. A tweet tagging Javed Akhtar made by Animal The Film's official handle reads, "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."

The tweet also asks that love should be above the politics of gender. "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."

Earlier too, the director Sandeep Reddy Vanga has through interviews openly mocked and slammed critics for criticising 'Animal'. Critics have panned the film for celebrating misogyny and violence against women. One woman critic was particularly severely trolled for slamming the film.

Nothing goes beyond movies

Meanwhile, at the 'Animal's success party on Saturday (January 6) night, Ranbir Kapoor, who had played the protagonist in the film, admitted that a "section of people had an issue" with the film but the success and numbers the film received proved that nothing goes beyond the love for a movie. "Nothing goes beyond movies," he stressed.

'Animal', a crime action drama,  set against the backdrop of a troubled father-son relationship, emerged as one of the highest grossing Hindi movies of 2023, despite being labelled as misogynistic and brutally violent by a section of viewers and critics. The film which released on December 1 earned over ₹900 crore worldwide. 

The success bash was attended by Reddy Vanga and 'Animal' actors Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Triptii Dimri, Prem Chopra, Suresh Oberoi, Saurabh Sachdeva, and Siddhant Karnick.

Reddy Vanga, has courted controversy for his previous films 'Arjun Reddy' and 'Kabir Singh' as well. Bobby Deol, whose turn as the menacing mute gangster Abrar Haque became one of the highlights of 'Animal', credited Reddy Vanga for the film's success at the party.

"It is all so amazing. All this couldn't have happened without Sandeep Reddy Vanga. He had this vision to create this film with conviction," he said. While Anil Kapoor, who plays Ranbir Kapoor's father in the film, called Rashmika Mandanna, who plays Ranbir Kapoor's wife, as the film's "lucky mascot".