Animal movie review: Ranbir Kapoor owns this saga of violence, gore and misogyny 

Ranbir Kapoor-Rashmika Mandanna’s film, Animal, right off the bat, feels like a fever dream devoid of any logic, and replete with mindless actions of a man who appears to rejoice in senseless violence. There is no grace, no softness and no place for women in this Sandeep Reddy Vanga movie. You might presume it to be somewhat like Arjun Reddy/Kabir Singh, but make no mistake, this is an endless saga of violence and misogyny and violence and some more violence and some more misogyny.

Animal appears to be a deranged man’s fantasy – why deranged and why a ‘man’s’ fantasy will all be quite apparent in the immense runtime of 3 hours and 21 minutes. Reddy’s Animal is an assault on your senses, not in a cringe way, but in a way where you need some quiet meditation afterward. Never will you feel the need for a good cup of chamomile tea than after you leave from Animal.

To begin with, right from the trailer itself, Reddy makes no secret of the fact that Animal will be a violent movie. But it is not only the violence and gore but the senselessness and mindlessness of it all that will haunt you after the credits roll. There is that one scene that defines the movie and will continue to be discussed far after the box office collections wrap up. No surprises that it involves a lot of men and bullets and axes and blood and corpses and unquenched rage.

The other assault on any thinking person is the unparalleled misogyny. If you thought Kabir Singh was bad, oh boy, you are in for a rude surprise. Women in this world weep quietly, have no choice and no voice, no agency, are slapped and ridiculed and controlled by the gun-slinging, profanity-spewing, out of control gang of men. The women are reduced to timid caricatures whose most important work is to produce babies -- Kapoor’s Ranvijay Singh, after all, measures the “worth” of a woman by the size of her pelvis.

If Kapoor’s Ranvijay Singh asks a woman to lick his boot and walks away as she is about to, Bobby Deol’s Abrar jumps on his newly-wed wife in front of his guests and unzips his pants. If Ranvijay Singh jokes “lovingly” about slapping his wife, Abrar actually slaps – neither is better in this department than the other. The writing is simply crass.

In the end, Animal is about a man, Ranvijay, who is totally out of his senses and gets into fits of fury and rage and sees no logic. Ranvijay has always craved his father's love and longed to spend time with his only hero. Any slight criticism or questioning of his father flips a switch in him, and would leave the other person in mortal danger. What he needs the most is a good therapist. But then there is a scene where a therapist tries to help him till he shoos her away, go figure.

If you can get past all this, you would start appreciating Ranbir Kapoor’s performance. He many a times resembles Sanjay Dutt, the mannerisms included. His mastery over the action choreography just accentuates the scenes. Kapoor is an ace actor who emotes rage, love, annoyance, guilt without any inhibition, but we knew that about him already. The same, however, can’t be said about Rashmika Mandanna. Some of her dialogues might be unintelligible to many of the viewers, the author included. Her performance lacks a sense of consistency – she owns some of the scenes but some are just flat.

Anil Kapoor is another highlight of Reddy’s movie. He plays the role of Ranvijay Singh’s father Balbir Singh with elan. The few scenes Tripti Dimri appears in, she lights up the screen. She has that quality as is quite evident in Bulbbul and Qala.

But one of the factors that will pull audiences to watch Animal is Bobby Deol – nay, pardon me, Lord Bobby. He is the lord in every sense in all of his scenes. His eyes do all of the talking – a long way since the Gupt days, no?

Animal is all of its highs and lows and goods and bads, and still entertaining. If you overlook all the flaws in the movie, you are in for 3 hours 20 minutes of entertainment. That in itself, is quite some achievement.

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Also read: 'Animal' advance booking: Ranbir Kapoor's film surpasses Tiger 3, Gadar 2 in India