‘Animal’ (2023): Sound & Fury, Signifying Nothing

Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga || Produced by: Bhushan Kumar, Pranay Reddy Vanga, Krishan Kumar, Murad Khetani

Screenplay by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga, Pranay Reddy Vanga, Suresh Bandaru || Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Triptii Dimri

Music by: JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Ashim Kemson, Harshavardhan Rameshwar, A.R. Rahman, Bhupinder Babbal || Cinematography: Amit Roy || Edited by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga || Country: India || Language: Hindi

Running Time: 201 minutes

One of the few big Hindi releases not starring Shah Rukh Khan in 2023 was Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, the Telangana native’s third feature and his second Bollywood (Hindi cinema) film after the Hindi-language remake of his directorial debut, Arjun Reddy (2017), Kabir Singh (2019). The eighth highest grossing Indian film of all time as of this writing and one of the longer films made in the country in any language, Animal is furthermore notable for its A-certificate (the rating for adults aged 18+ years, only; somewhat equivalent to the Motion Picture Association of America’s R-rating) and bizarre combination of an intentionally unlikable, amoral protagonist with stereotypical mainstream Bollywood melodrama, catchy music, and over-the-top action.

In one of the movie’s better violent scenes, Ranbir Kapoor annihilates an in-law relative who drew first blood.

For my part, general allegations of Animal’s supposed glorification of toxic masculinity mean little to me given much of popular Indian cinema’s — both Hindi-language Bollywood plus South Indian Cinema — tone-deaf social commentary across all manner of hardcore action, science-fiction, or thriller genres, where on-the-nose, hamfisted dialogue about whatever hot-button political issue happens to trend at the time clashes with their parent movie’s colorful musical numbers and simplistic, dull fight sequences modeled after the speed-ramping choreography of 300 (2007) or the slow-motion martial arts of The Matrix (1999, 2003). Animal’s unabashed commitment to and obvious criticism of its flawed lead character, played by a memorable Ranbir Kapoor, if anything, satirizes many of those preachy South Asian blockbusters (e.g. Jawan, Jailer [both 2023], Etharkkum Thunindhavan [2022], 2.0, Simmba [both 2018], Rang de Basanti [2006]) whose sloppy, self-serious political messages feel as haphazard as they do pandering when wrapped in such distracting, shallow, candy coated genre packages.

My problems with Animal stem from how it doesn’t reach beyond its somewhat interesting criticism of the questionable ethics of its protagonist, how Vanga’s directorial execution remains about as middling as most of the populist tentpole blockbusters he appears to criticize. Vanga conjures solid performances from most of his cast, supporting actors Anil Kapoor, Siddhant Karnick, and female lead Rashmika Mandanna most of all, which lead to numerous melodramatic family feuds and amusing dialogue (see also Devdas [2002]); however, this core drama that’s anchored to semi-interesting themes of estranged fatherhood (Anil plays Ranbir’s dad, whose emotional distance is the primary reason for the latter’s dysfunctional adult behavior) gets buried under — surprise, surprise — (1) excessive, unnecessary, forgettable action sequences and (2) a bloated, longwinded narrative that falls apart in its second half (i.e. around the 100-minute mark).

With regards to the former problem, Animal forgoes the tiresome slow-motion stunts common to most South Indian action movies in favor of faster paced choreography similar to a John Wick (2014–2023), Extraction (2020, 2023), or Indonesian New Wave action film (e.g. The Raid [2011], The Night Comes for Us [2018]), but with less consistent stuntwork, more predictable editing, and obvious digital gore. These fight sequences don’t interrupt the more interesting intrafamilial conflicts where Anil, Ranbir, Mandanna, Karnick, and others shout insults at each other (yes, the dialogue-driven dramatic scenes are more effective than the violence) too often (there’re only 3-4 action set-pieces in the entire 201-minute film), and one scene where Ranbir strangles Karnick to death is kind of fun; on the other hand, the fights before the movie’s intermission and the conclusion last forever, transforming from somewhat grounded choreography that clashes with the romantic melodrama of the rest of the story to bombastic mayhem that really clashes with the romantic melodrama of the rest of the story.

As always, mainstream Indian filmmaking’s longwindedness both kills the pacing of Animal’s story as well as introduces way too many pointless supporting characters. I noticed many narrative references to the three-hour long Godfather (1972) classic that balloon Animal’s screenplay to absurd proportions, along with Scarface (1983)-esque violent domestic outbursts on the part of Ranbir that grow repetitive by the film’s halfway mark. Worse still are how anemic the villainy of Animal are outside of Karnick (Saurabh Sachdeva and Bobby Deol are flatlines) and how the film wastes Bulbbul (2020)-star Triptii Dimri on a nonsense character who adds nothing to the story.

Kapoor confesses his infidelity to costar Rashmika Mandana in a pointless scene that goes on forever, a running problem with the film’s second half.

In general, Western critics’ sharp rebuke of Animal in contrast with their meager, timid handling of the likes of Jawan, Pathaan, and Salaar (all 2023) with kid gloves speaks to how film journalists’ desire to seem multicultural or cosmopolitan sometimes clashes with their subjective aversion to crude, politically unpalatable action heroes and more objective criticism of excessive, self-indulgent storytelling. Animal is edgy in many ways, but not enough in style to separate itself from many of the less explicit Bollywood blockbusters it seems to mock, nor is it disciplined in direction a la S. Craig Zahler’s grindhouse homages to impress cultural outsiders. Put another way, you can put all the Godfather or Scarface references you want in your movie, including amoral point-of-view characters, but you need to construct a cohesive, tonally consistent narrative around them. Like with Jailer, a decent sub-two hour movie may exist within Animal perhaps just a dedicated fan edit away, but as it exists now, this theatrical cut of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s third movie is another longwinded mess of a Hindi melodrama.

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SUMMARY & RECOMMENDATION: Blunt and aggressive to a fault, Animal sees cowriter-editor-director Reddy Vanga combine the angst-ridden vibes of Arjun Reddy with the violent, musical excesses of contemporary Hindi blockbuster filmmaking to the benefit of neither style. I credit Reddy Vanga, Ranbir, and Anil for taking such a big swing for the fences given how unlikable yet memorable many of these characters are, yet the engorged runtime and nonsensical, often dull set-pieces weigh Animal down like a sack of bricks.

— However… both Kapoors, Rashmika Mandanna, and Siddhant Karnick have good chemistry with each other. A couple brief violent encounters make for decent black comedy.

—> NOT RECOMMENDED

? Hey, screenwriters, that last shot of Ranbir hugging his diegetic son was the direction this movie should’ve chosen.