Animal: The Twinning Violence
Star Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Tripthi Dimri, Charu Shankar, Babloo Prithveeraj, and Shakti Kapoor
Music Composed by JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bharadwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Harshavardhan Rameshwar, Ashim Kemson Animal Review
Cinematography by Amit Roy
Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Suppose Bheema was the only son of Pandu and he fought with Duryodhana, who was the only son of Dhritarashtra. If Pandu became the emperor and Dhritarashtra left the kingdom in protest, that would be the story of Animal. I will not explain much, but note two points: Bheema and Duryodhana can only kill each other. They are born around the same time, like identical twins. This is how Sandeep Reddy Vanga used this aspect in the film. Sandeep did not say much for us to decipher, but you can easily understand this mythological connection with a Google search. While you are at it, you can also search for “Vanishing Twin Syndrome”. Of course, I am not telling you what to do, but if you are interested, you can learn more about them. ANIMAL is a character study that mixes the Vanishing Twin and Cain & Abel stories from the Bible, and the Bheema & Duryodhana story from the Mahabharata. To make things even simpler: Bheema vows to avenge Draupadi by killing Duryodhana with his own hands. Ranvijay (Ranbir) does the same. This one notion consumes Bheema more than any of his brothers.
The Vanishing Twin Syndrome occurs when one twin dies in the womb and is absorbed by the other. If any part of the dead twin, such as the lungs, heart, kidney, or brain cells, remains with the surviving one, then this syndrome is more evident. This syndrome has affected not only Ranvijay in the film, but also the writer in Sandeep Reddy Vanga, whose twin – the Arjun Reddy writer – was consumed by the idea of repeating what worked in the second film. The Animal writer is not as original and convincing as the Arjun Reddy one. He was consumed in the womb of creating a more violent character with similar traits, but with no bones – only flesh and a metaphorical shape. In Arjun Reddy, the protagonist seemed original, delightfully on your face, a man with flaws, gray and human. But in Animal, Arjun Reddy became a man with no considerate bones which makes him relatable.
When Arjun Reddy declares his love for Preethi in front of the college class, you might think he is a loser. But he turns out to be an overachiever and we get a layered portrayal of love between two equally mad people. One is over the top and on your face, and the other is silently resilient and uncanny. Here, the love story is between a distant father who never expresses his love and an aggressive son, who cares for no one – not even for his father’s wishes. If you love someone, you need to care for their wishes – Arjun Reddy learned this lesson after losing Preethi. Animal or Ranvijay learns nothing after going through a high-testosterone journey against another “lover” of his father. At least, Sandeep tries to make us think that they are the same with a line. The Arjun Reddy writer-director believed in showing and telling, but here, he neither shows nor tells explicitly. He leaves it to our assumption to connect or just trust him, as he writes a line about it.
It would have been more interesting to see Ranbir Kapoor become hot-headed as he faced each challenge laid out by Bobby Deol on his way to reach him. Being consumed by the idea of killing the man who would never stop attacking his father and family would have made it more satisfying than this version of a confused take. Also, Anil Kapoor’s character, Balbir Singh, needed to learn from Ranvijay’s actions or love towards him to realize his mistake. A writer who wrote Arjun Reddy would have come up with such a version, as in the end, it is a father-son love story. A film like Agni Nakshatram [1988] explored the dynamics between two step-brothers and their love for their father. While they hated each other, their love for their father almost formed a triangular love story. They tried to listen to his wish on his deathbed, while their mutual hatred was a hindrance in fully respecting their father’s wishes.
1 Response
[…] ways to tell a story: 1) this happened in their life-style and 2) this happened because of this. Animal [2023] and 12th Class [2023] films belong to the first category, while Sapta Sagaraadache Ello […]