Animal (2023) Review
When Sandeep Reddy Vanga decided to do a more violent film, a certain section expected something even more scary. Vanga was adamant in justifying his male protagonist roles taking an even darker route this time with ‘Animal’. He has sketched out some alpha males through out the film and yet the most feared part was his male protagonist. Animal has come as the worst nightmare for all the critics who has called out Vanga for his unapologetic portrayal of male chauvinism through his male lead.
The lead character played by Ranbir Kapoor has a fixation with his father portrayed by Anil Kapoor. Vanga clearly establishes this premise traversing through the life of the protagonist starting from his school going years. Each scene in the initial 20 minutes clearly builds the emotions and feelings of the protagonist. The entire movie depends on this character construction setting the pace for the next 3 hours. Vanga has carefully constructed those scenes, building an eerie atmosphere around an out-of-control protagonist. The best part is that Vanga has packed many memorable episodes without a single action scene till the intermission point.
Vanga has made it clear that his story is hero driven and Ranbir Kapoor does an outstanding job to infuse life into the role of Ranvijay Balbir Singh. He has been wild and unapologetic throughout the movie and shows no regret to portray a detestable and merciless character. Mostly, Ranbir has to undergo different getup changes and has eased these transitions to perfection. The real problem starts after the intermission point with the overdose of toxic masculinity eclipsing the primary plot. It all seemed like Vanga wanted to make a case against his critics. Rashmika has significant scope for performance in the latter half but this has more to do with the turbulent behaviour of Ranbir Kapoor.
The character of Tripti Dimri seems wasted in this process but the climax episodes ensure that Vanga has well executed the primary plot here. The towering performances of Ranbir Kapoor & Anil Kapoor highlights the entire climax sequence. This was much needed to save a failing screenplay thanks to the over hyped machismo in the latter half that derailed the primary plot. The background music has been outstanding right from the introduction scene. Many iconic moments are created in the film with the help of some exhilarating music.
Vanga has brilliantly laced a tight screenplay with carefully scripted episodes to ensure 3 hours of appealing moments despite a 45-minute-long toxic masculinity sequences bogs down the process.