My review of ANIMAL – by Ram Gopal Varma

This review was written by Ram Gopal Varma and circulated on Whatsapp , and has been published with the director’s permission.

I went to see ANIMAL after reading and watching quite a few reviews and that’s because after so many decades in film making , I don’t think I can watch a film just as a viewer anymore and so ,I made it a point for me to watch the film through multiple point of views. 

I loved what Film maker Adrian Lyne , who made such classics as Nine and half weeks , Fatal Attraction , Lolita etc , once said in an interview that a film should not be merely liked or disliked by the audience members , but it should make them violently disagree and argue which is what Sandeep Vanga achieved BIG TIME in ANIMAL 

ANIMAL will be fought over much after its box office run is over and I truly believe it can trigger a cultural switch in its bare naked honesty 

I personally din’t care so much neither about the plot of the family rivalry nor even the father son relationship , and that’s because I missed a scene where Anil kapoor talks very deeply to his wife about his son which could have given me his emotional point of view 

But I loved how Sandeep used those cliches as mere premises to create unique never before seen scenes and also telling their content in a never before heard way , thus completely exposing the hypocritical moral standards of conventional film makers 

The film startles you many times and that could also be because of the so called slow pace and the long length criticised by many

But for me that’s what worked because the slow pace is what which determines the unexpectedness

One of my faviourate moments is when against everyone’s expectations including me in the theatre  that he will come back with a base ball bat or something , he coming with a machine gun is a cinematic gem 

For me the character of Ranbir hit me like a thunderbolt when he says a simple line “Happiness is a decision “ with a strange mix of both innocence and conviction 

This line I suspect is the core mind of Sandeep in real like many other dialogue 

The long cinematographic and editorial build up  for Ranbir to say one line to his father “ I will destroy the world if anyone lays a finger on u “  for me felt like showing the entire making of a cake before putting the icing on it , and I just loved that taste 

The pre interval fight sequence mixed with Arjun velly song reminded me of the music video of Michael Jackson’s “Beat it “

Though many would scoff at that treatment due to its breaking of a conventional structure , one should remember Ayn Rand’s words “ Art is not what it is , art is also what it could be “ and that’s what makes Sandeep truly a true artiste in the purest sense of the word 

And that also explains some random comic scenes like the Bra strap spanking , talking about sex with the doctors etc to name a few which seemingly have no context but what they really do is to subconsciously act as a sledge hammer to drive the protagonist’s character into the viewers heads 

For me the one thing I disliked is the fight with the masked guys in the interval block which I know was loved by the majority and neither did I like the Body double sequence nor the climax air strip fight which I felt were outside the tone of the film 

In the sequence of the masked men Killing the dupe , if the intention of the masks was to hide their identity why would the main guy be off with the mask is the only time I was surprised with Sandeep 

The sister beating vijay after learning he killed her husband and him advising her after that is BRILLIANT , because Sandeep has taken the content far beyond what Francis Coppola did in the scene of Connie confronting Michael Corleone after learning he killed her husband Carlo , and in ANIMAL the high light is he himself tells his sister 

The villain bobby ‘s intro has to be the most original ever in FILM HISTORY because he’s literally unveiled like a bride in a split screen effect ..That’s Just GENIUS 

Another genius moment is when vijay celebrates walking naked to make a statement on his perfectly regained health ..Fuckkkk!

The only time I disliked Vijay’s character is when he asks the mole to lick his shoe and I think that’s because of the brilliant casting of that actress which evoked an instant empathy on her the moment I saw her and it only grew with every close up of hers .

Rashmika’s confrontation scene on her asking him about condom usage is just a brilliantly written and executed scene and I was bowled over with her performance 

From the trailers , I was secretly worried about Ranbir going a little over the top , but this is the first time I both as a film maker and just a viewer , after watching the film I was completely not sure whether his performance is taking over the character , or the character is making the performance work ..But I have never ever seen more consistency in an actor’s portrayal of a character in my entire career expect for that one single scene where he asks the mole to lick his shoe 

More than him being physically naked in that one scene , he was emotionally naked throughout the film in his performance which takes more strength of mind than just being physically naked 

Hey @imvangasandeep please send a photo of ur feet so that I can touch them for the following reasons 

1.

U completely shattered every rule of what all conventional film makers believed from the point of time , the professional camera was invented 

2.

Your film will force the film industry thinking into taking multiple turns and abandon their cliches 

3.

From Alfred Hitchcock to Steven Spielberg to many directors of today , who believe that both film and scenes should be as short as possible to make a point , u took ur own sweet time and u cut their throats .. I loved every second of ur length (pun intended )

4.

Stars of all languages will aspire to have characters like this to perform and this will give rise to a completely new set of writers and directors which will expand and stretch the film horizons 

And above all for the JUMP CUT from Anil’s last dialogue to the end titles camera zooming out shot showing Ranbir crying like a baby in Shakti Kapoor’s lap ,I want to kiss u on ur mouth and lick Ranbir Kapoor’s both feet 

Posted in: Cinema: Hindi, Cinema: Kannada, Cinema: Malayalam, Cinema: Tamil, Cinema: Telugu