Sandeep Vanga’s Animal forces us to see the difference between being woke and being awake
I’ve never been a fan of wokeism, pseudo-feminism, and more isms that have plagued our society in the ‘social media’ times we live in.
But that’s not the reason why I loved Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s latest blast at the cinemas – Animal. Not even remotely. I loved it for the same reason why I loved his previous film, Kabir Singh, again a highly ‘controversial’ film which did huge numbers at the BO.
He is REAL AF, in a world that has no ‘safe space’ for people who don’t operate on perception, who are beyond labels like ‘misogyny’, ‘abusive’, ‘violent’, and the like, to suit their convenient narrative that pays their bills. No, some people just get up every morning, take a bath, suit up or dress up, according to their job profile, and head to work, instead of whipping a hot take in their heads for extra engagement or likes or more views on their social media channel.
These are regular men and women, who dare to see the human condition as is, and are capable of feeling their core of existence as something bigger than their ‘political leanings’, their ‘gender politics’, their ‘isms they believe in’, and their puritanical reasons to create a ‘better society’ free from all the evils, for which, movies are directly responsible it seems. You thought parenting, life exposure, and critical thinking abilities shape a man or a woman? No sir, it’s solely the movies!
You see, sadly the burden of improving the society has fallen on some poor souls who ‘happen to’ have a social media following, and wish to use it to better the humanity. So what if in this process, they amass wealth, gain recognition, more following, brand deals, and start believing they’re the ones living rent-free in a director’s head based on their mere review! Gigantic proportions of self-delusions aside, these poor souls who only wish to do good, for us, mere mortals who don’t understand right from wrong till we’re told, have the most profound reasons to dismiss a film. A hero who drinks and smokes? Haila…yeh kya dikha diya…a hero who engages in violence? You’re kidding! He is abusive towards women? Okay my threshold is breached. HELP HELP HELP…my safe space where are you? Oh yes, in the comments section.
And the army of wokes have risen.
But, those who are awake, need no wokes to tell them right from wrong, good from bad, and ugly from beautiful. And Vanga, dear sir/ma’am is WIDE AWAKE. He isn’t after some critical appreciation to serve as a stamp of approval for what he deeply believes in. In fact, he’s after something so visceral, so real, and untainted by labels, that it will put woke critics and wannabe YouTubers, who are only after their subscriber count and brand deals, to some serious shame. Only if they have the ability to introspect, that is.
The Woke aren’t awake yet. So that’s not a possibility. But maybe someday.
Regardless of these poor do-gooder souls, I’m deeply interested in exploring Vanga’s drive when he tells a story like Animal. And what he’s truly after, through his cinema. After watching the film, I feel he is after – a deeper understanding of his own nature, acute freedom as a human and as a man, and self-expression stripped of all the lies we tell ourselves to live a ‘suitable’ life. It doesn’t suit him. Convenience.
Calling your father-in-law as ‘Papa’ simply because it’s a socially acceptable behaviour just doesn’t sit well with him! He is not the real papa, and that’s the plane of truth he operates from.
Hiding all the true emotions of a man who grew up as the son of an emotionally distant father, under the label of ‘daddy issues’ just doesn’t sit well with him! Concealing all the rage a man feels, simmering since his childhood due to lack of love and acceptance by a father, whose approval is the only thing he sought, under the label of ‘violence’ just doesn’t sit well with him! Not addressing the fleeting feelings of emasculation a man/husband is subjected to through a wife who tells him what he’s supposed to do, like take that meeting with a heart donor, even if it’s for his own good, just doesn’t sit well with him!
His protagonist is an Alpha who demands an equally strong partner, one who won’t give into her worst instincts to feel better about herself. One who would rather go out and work, than crib on petty issues to make a point. One who has sexual agency and won’t ‘lick his boot’ in the name of love. And one who won’t marry him for reasons like ‘he’s loaded’ or that ‘he speaks less’ but for the right reasons – love.
The gender dynamics in a Vanga film are fascinating to see, as they beg to differ from the usual tropes we’re sold, where a relationship between a man and a woman has the entire family involved, to solve their issues. Nope, not in a Vanga film. He truly holds the marriage between a man and a woman to be a sacred space, where even the parents of either partner are outsiders. You see, lovers cannot love truly, if they can’t fight truly. Believe it or not, but that’s how it works in animal kingdom, and we’re all animals in that sense.
Not letting go of this animal instinct, even as we live in a society, a human construct by the way, is what Animal is all about. When Rashmika’s character gets excited listening to their audio sex tape, it’s her giving into this instinct, which has been replaced by societal ‘norms’ like feeling shame, which an animal doesn’t feel. When Ranbir gets a heart transplant and walks naked in his garden, it’s as if an animal who owns himself walks, uninhibited and fully in control of himself, his nature. When he hugs a barely clothed Rashmika is full view of the help, it’s both of them giving into this instinct, to free themselves from the bondage of what a society wants them to be.
When Ranbir tells Rashmika that she has a big pelvis, it’s not to degrade her, but to highlight her agency, and why she can choose her mate on her own, disregarding the forces of society which don’t operate according to our nature, but to fulfil a self-serving end. The wokes will say what about the scene where he hurt her by pulling on her bra strap? Or choking her? Set aside their relationship for a moment and see Ranbir’s character as a man, who has his own space in this world, where even Rashmika, his own wife doesn’t venture in his mind. That’s the space Vanga creates for men who, in the post-woke world, have bought into the ‘idea’ of being the perfect husbands as those who – will act as ‘providers’ for their wives, attend marriage functions with them, put Instagram stories with them, take them shopping, on expensive international holidays, all the while disregarding their own desires or even hearing their own heartbeat! You think patriarchy has only affected women? That’s what a pseudo-feminist would want to believe, for her own needs to be fulfilled. But not an Alpha female, like Rashmika. Her need to leave Ranbir only surfaces towards the end, when she sees how helpless he is, and blind towards his own son and daughter, in his journey of seeking Anil Kapoor’s validation. But you see, him seeing his son at the end, the way he did, when he runs towards him, could never havé been possible, if he hadn’t gone through with his own journey, and given into his own animal instincts the way he did.
Him letting go Zoya’s character unharmed despite knowing her truth, versus Abrar (Bobby Deol) forcing himself on his to-be-bride when he is at his lowest to assert his power, speaks volumes of the difference between the Animal Ranbir’s character is, and what kind of an animal Bobby Deol’s character is.
If Sandeep Reddy Vanga wants to be a force to be reckoned with, all he needs to do is improve his screenplay techniques and editing, which could have made Animal an even immersive cinematic experience. But then, it’s only his second film!
Kudos and massive respect for the director to again tell a story with full conviction, and fearlessness.
P.S: If only Ranbir’s dialogue delivery was a tad bit better, the film would have been elevated to a whole new level!
