Animal: Ram Gopal Varma On Ranbir Kapoor's Mega Box Office Hit, Says 'It Destroyed What....'

Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol, released this Friday, garnering varied reactions from both critics and audiences. Known for his divisive filmmaking, director Ram Gopal Varma had earlier given a stellar review of the film. Now RGV has elaborated more about his thoughts on the film through a social media post.

He took to his X(formerly Twitter) handle and expressed five key takeaways from the mega box office hit that is Animal, “1. Indians are not the same Indians, what the earlier Indians used to think. 2. If films are believed to be an art form and reflect culture, Animal has redefined culture and destroyed what was earlier called art,” he stated.

He further wrote, “3. Every Indian is now exposed to each other indian in terms of what kind of ANIMALS are hidden in all of us. 4. The MEGA BOX OFFICE proves that ALL INDIANS now love and respect a not to be loved and respected director 5. All INDIANS now realise that ALL INDIANS have GROWN UP .”

Ranbir Kapoor is ruling the box office and how! Into its second weekend, Animal continues to be unstoppable at the cinemas. The film, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, is all set to enter the Rs 400 crore club in just nine days. According to Sacnilk.com, Animal has collected Rs 398.53 crores in just nine days in India. The film collected Rs 37 crore on its second Saturday at the box office, which has contributed massively to the total box office.

The Ranbir Kapoor film recorded a jump in collections on Saturday. On Friday, Animal recorded a box office collection of Rs 22.95 crore whereas on Saturday, the collections rose upto Rs 37 crore. This hints that the film could record a high collection on Sunday as well, swiftly helping the film surpass the Rs 400 crore mark. With this, Animal has become the fourth biggest films of 2023.

Animal has comfortably taken the fourth spot on the list of highest earning films of 2023. The top spot continues to be held by Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan (Rs 643.87 crores), followed by Pathaan (Rs 543.05 crores). Sunny Deol’s Gadar 2 currently stands on the third spot (Rs 525.45 crores).

Apart from emerging as one of the biggest movies this year, Animal is now highest grossing film of Ranbir’s career. Previously, it was Sanju, which had collected a lifetime business of Rs 342.53 crore in 2018.

Animal revolves around a man and his toxic relationship with his father. Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, the film shows Vijay (played by Ranbir) as an anti-hero who would go to any lengths to protect his father, including gun down 200 people with machine gun. However, despite his efforts, he struggles to get a seal of approval from his emotionally unavailable father (played by Anil Kapoor). His unhealthy relationship with his father impacts his relationship with his wife (played by Rashmika Mandanna).

Although Animal is doing phenomenal business, it has been hit by controversy. The film has been accused of glorifying misogyny and toxic masculinity by several social media users.