Rashmika Mandanna Defends Ranbir Kapoor's Grey Character In Animal: "Nobody Is Forcing You To Watch"

NDTV

4 days ago

New Delhi:
Rashmika Mandanna, in a recent interview, once again reacted to the Animal controversy. Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal minted crores at the box office but a section of the Internet slammed the film for its problematic take on masculinity and misogynistic tone.
What's Happening
In a recent conversation with Barkha Dutt on Mojo Story, Rashmika Mandanna was asked if she would smoke on screen. Though she has a reservation for smoking on screen, she has defended Ranbir Kapoor's flawed character in the film.
Rasmika Mandanna argued that audience should watch a film as a film and they can decide what they want to watch.
"I saw the film as a film. When a hero is smoking on screen, people say he is influencing others to do so. But today, it's very normal in society for people to smoke. I don't go to watch a film to be influenced in any way. Personally, I would never smoke on screen, but that's my perspective.
"If I am part of Animal, I will still say go watch a film as a film. Now, if someone is going to be influenced by a film, then watch your kind of films. Nobody is forcing anybody to watch a film. If that were the case, every film would be a blockbuster," said Rashmika.
Responding to the backlash the film received which is still making waves in the popular culture, Rashmika said, "There are grey characters in each one of us-we are never just black or white. We all have grey in us. It's just that Sandeep Reddy Vanga spoke about a messed-up character, and that's about it. It seems to me that people have celebrated it because it made the numbers. So I didn't feel I had to be disturbed by the conversation. We made this film, it worked, people liked or disliked it-that's their personal thing. People should really go watch a film for what it is, and not judge an actor for playing these characters. It's acting for a reason."
About Animal's Reception In The Industry
Celebrities like Javed Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma expressed their thoughts on the film and they didn't approve of the content of the film. However, filmmakers like Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap applauded the film for its style of making without delving much into the moral fabric of the film.
At the Forbes India Leadership Awards 2024, Karan Johar said, "I didn't go deep into the moral communication of the film - I was so swept by the narrative and the way the filmmaker told the story of it through sound design, screenplay, dialogue, character development, that as a filmmaker, I loved it."
In A Nutshell
Rashmika Mandanna, who played Ranbir Kapoor's love interest in the film, defended the superstar's flawed character in a recent interview.