Animal | Review, 5 things I liked and disliked about it

Prologue:

The movie revolves around a troubled father-son bond against the backdrop of extreme bloodshed in the underworld which causes the son to become a vicious psychopath.

IMDB: 7.9
It’s Review Time: 8

Cast & Crew:

Director, Screenplay, Editor – Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Ranbir Kapoor as Ranvijay Singh/Aziz.
Anil Kapoor as Balbir Singh/Kailash.
Suresh Oberoi as Dadaji.
Rashmika Mandhanna as Geetanjali Singh.
Shakti Kapoor as Vishnu Mishra.
Prem Chopra as Bade Daarji.
Bobby Deol as Abrar Haque.
Prithviraj as Asrar Haque.
Saurabh Sachdeva as Abid Haq.

Plot:

The movie starts with Ranvijay celebrating 100 years of his forefathers’ company, Shakti Steel in the year 2056. He sits there and celebrates his birthday with his Sikh Cousins, and tells them a hilarious story of a cunning monkey.
Soon we move to childhood of Ranvijay, where we see him arguing with his teacher for his father’s honour, and how deprived he has been of his father’s love and attention since he was a child.

From there we see him growing older, taking responsibilities of his house as his father was always busy with work and never had enough time for his family members. Even though Vijay’s methods were wrong as there was no one to guide him as he was growing up, his intentions were never wrong for his family members.

As he grows into a young adult, we see Ranvijay having an Alpha Man mindset, which causes a lot of trouble between him and his family members. Ranvijay marries his childhood friend, in quite a weird way and is asked to leave his family by his father after a dispute he had with his brother-in-law, Varun.

Ranvijay along with his wife leave their house, and soon move to the United States of America for a happy peaceful life, but soon things turn as a family man Ranvijay has to return home as his father gets shot by some unknown men.

Now Ranvijay makes it his mission to find and kill the man who was behind all of this.

Review:

It is a movie that should be avoided by the people who have a leftward ideology, who did not like Kabir Singh, obviously the people who are upfront and fighting for the women’s rights, and also who have a soft heart and can’t watch blood.

What a cinematic experience it has been after a long time in the Hindi Cinema. After the flooding of Masala Movies, we finally get back the movies that have a logical script in them. And what an acting performance it has been by everyone who was involved in the movie, and especially by Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and even Bobby Deol.

Coming to the part of the director’s effort, it was a really artistic and well-made movie if you keep aside the entire storyline of it. Sandeep Reddy Vanga took the responsibility for delivering the best experience to the audience and what a project he has developed. Whether it was the entire storyline driven by love and revenge, the perfect music used at the perfect time, cinematography, casting, usage of prosthetics, and so many more things, everything was nailed to perfection. I have never seen any project in Indian Cinema with so much effort put into delivering such an experience to the viewers. This movie was something we expect from the Hollywood to deliver. Not exactly the storyline, but the brilliance it was delivered to us with. The entire movie was filled with various easter eggs as well as referring to various other popular Hindi movies, and also the movies that actors have done in the past. The movie was so well edited and portrayed on the screen pumped the adrenaline in the entire audience. Each and every person in the theatre was sitting on the edge of their seats.

Acting performance from Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, and Bobby Deol who came in very late and for a short time, but all of them nailed their respective roles to perfection.

Yes, there are many things that I thought could have been better and would have enhanced the movie experience. So let’s talk about the things that I liked and disliked about the movie below.

5 things I liked about Animal:

1. The way Ranbir Kapoor pulls off the character in the entire movie and never slips for even a single second for the entire duration was fantastic to watch. We don’t just watch the immense talent Ranbir has, but also his dedication to the role, along with the Kapoor genetics who have been in this industry for around a century now. Whether it was him playing his younger teen version, a young adult, or a grown-up family man, he was always spot-on with his role. Doing such a role after being known as a lover boy for more than a decade in the Hindi Movie industry could have gone so wrong, but with the perfection he nails, the role was a fantastic acting performance to watch on the big screen. In the entire movie, he never abuses or acts in complete rage to show how furious of an animal he is, but instead, he carries a body language, facial expression, and the conviction in his eyes says more than the dialogues he had. The way he carried his Alpha man personality with a soft heart for his family members in the entire duration of the movie, and his Punjabi dialect, accent, and pronunciation were perfect.
   Also, Ranbir’s acting performance was supported and enhanced with the effort of other actors like Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandhanna, and all the Sikh Cousins.
2. The subtle humour Sandeep Reddy Vanga has in the entire movie keeps the audience sane after the adrenaline the director pumps everyone with. No joke in the entire movie feels forced or something that could have been avoided. Instead, he loosens up the anger and adrenaline we got charged with.
3. The cinematography in the entire movie was brilliantly executed. There are many scenes where the fight is taking place in a dark hotel after everything has been shot by bullets to nothingness. But Vanga keeps everything in his mind and keeps the visuals appealing despite the fact there is hardly any room for beautiful shots in the movie.
   The way music has been added to the entire movie is something that I have never seen before in an Indian movie. Not the songs, but the background music at the time of Ranbir Kapoor’s entry – Roja by Threeory, the Pre-Interval song when the hotel fight takes place – Dolby Walya and Arjun Vally, entry song of Bobby Deol – Jamala Jamaloo, the background score and Whistle that enhance an intense moment even more, each and every single moment was just perfection of the art of film-making.
4. No amount of praise can depict the job Sandeep Reddy Vanga has done in this movie. Taking such a long story, which is surely not made for people who are weak-hearted, and can’t bear to watch a non-women-centric movie where women can be seen being in the rear seat of driving the narration of the movie. The producers along with Sandeep did not hesitate to narrate their story in today’s world. Even the actors took a big leap of faith in the talent of the director to deliver the story ahead of what is majorly portrayed in the movie. And no one was expecting a post-credit scene and announcement of the sequel – Animal Park. The brother who was under transformation as Zoya said, now looks like Ranvijay and will be coming for revenge.
5. The director and producers did not aim for the box office collection by changing the dialogues or various scenes in the movie, and instead went for an “Adult Certificate“. The way bloodshed occurred in the movie, Ranvijay slashing the throat of Abrar Haque during the final battle, and many more things were just meant for an adult rating. I am really glad that the writer and producer did not aim for a “Universal Adult” certificate, or it would have destroyed more than half of the entertainment we got to watch.

5 things I disliked about Animal:

1. The way Sandeep Reddy Vanga introduced Bobby Deol was worth watching, but he could have used more of him. Abrar Haque came out as a formidable opponent for Ranvijay Singh who was hardly ever outdone by anyone in the movie but himself. Bobby hardly got any screen time, and he was introduced after way too long in the duration, after 2 hours in the movie. Although Bobby nailed the role of a mute man who was on a mission to avenge his grandfather, father, and brother. What a brilliantly written character he had, but I wish he could have been introduced sooner in the movie and had been given much more to do with his role.
2. Despite being a full-on entertainer movie, it starts to feel lengthy after the interval till Ranvijay finds out the purpose why Zoya came to her.
3. Despite the brilliantly written characters and actors like Ranbir Kapoor and Anil Kapoor showcasing their immense talent, calibre, and experience throughout the movie, Rashmika Mandhanna somehow looked like she did not belong to the league of such acting powerhouses. Yes, she has done various roles in the past where the movies have been blockbusters like Pushpa and more, which Ranbir also mocks in the movie itself. But Rashmika felt like she fell behind with her acting performance and screen presence if compared to Ranbir and Anil.
4. There were many unrealistic scenes in the movie which could have been avoided or explained much better. There were scenes like Ranbir and Rashmika sleeping in the aisle of their private plane and there was no interruption from the external forces and elements like weather, fuel, and aviation communication felt stupid and just meant for the sake of charm did not look good considering the effort with which the movie is made.
   Also, the pre-interval fight scene where Asrar and his men arrive at the hotel to kill Ranvijay has a couple of issues. As soon as the men attacked the hotel, it was strange to see that the Sikh Cousins suddenly grabbed the guns and were already equipped with hands-on combat training with all kinds of weapons they used, whether it was an assault rifle or a submachine gun. Also, it was a bit strange to see the bike-gun which hardly looked realistic, but despite that, it was fun to watch it.
5. The minor inconvenience I had was with some dialogues that overlapped with the loud background music. Although I have praised the background music used in the entire movie, it could have been controlled a bit better.