Animal (2023 Indian film)

Animal is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action drama film co-written, directed and edited by Sandeep Reddy Vanga and produced by T-Series Films, Bhadrakali Pictures and Cine1 Studios. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna and Triptii Dimri. The film follows a powerful industrialist's ruthless and hardened son and his troubled relationship with his father, which gets further jeopardized as he sets out on a path of vengeance and destruction after an assassination attempt on his father's life.

The film was officially announced in January 2021. Principal photography began in April 2022 and was wrapped by April 2023, with cinematography by Amit Roy. The film's soundtrack album was composed by Pritam, JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Ashim Kemson and Harshavardhan Rameshwar. With a runtime of 201 minutes, Animal is one of the longest Indian films ever made. It was initially set for an August 2023 release but was postponed due to post-production work.

Animal was theatrically released on 1 December 2023, in standard and IMAX formats. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for its cast performances, songs, action sequences and technical aspects, but criticism for the film's writing, themes and graphic violence. Several commentators also accused Vanga of glorifying toxic masculinity and misogyny. The film did extremely well commercially, both domestically and internationally. It grossed inr 9170000000 worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing Indian film of 2023, the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film, the eighth highest-grossing Indian film, the highest-grossing A-rated Indian film, and the highest-grossing film of Ranbir Kapoor's career. At the 69th Filmfare Awards, the film won a leading six awards, including Best Actor for Ranbir Kapoor.

Plot
Ranvijay "Vijay" Singh is the son of Balbir Singh, a powerful Delhi-based industrialist. Vijay is also an aggressive person. Despite Balbir being a strict father, Vijay's love for his father is deep. Balbir doesn't know about his son's devotion to him due to his busy schedule, which also keeps him from spending time with his family.

One day, Balbir expels Vijay to a boarding school in the USA when Vijay threatens the bullies of his elder sister Reet with an AK-47. Vijay finishes his education and returns home after several years. During Balbir's birthday party, Vijay gets into an argument with his brother-in-law, Varun, prompting Balbir to expel him from the house again. Vijay marries his childhood girlfriend, Geetanjali, and the couple cuts ties with their families and moves to the USA.

Eight years later, Vijay, Geetanjali and their two kids return to India upon learning that Balbir was the victim of an assassination attempt. After meeting his father, Vijay reconciles with his family and takes it upon himself to uncover the assassin's identity. He rounds up his second cousins from the village for backup and recruits a body double for his father, who is eventually killed by a gangster named Asrar Haque. Vijay discovers Varun's role in the assassination attempt and kills him publicly at a conference with his cousins, where Asrar is also present. Vijay and his cousins meet Freddy, an arms dealer, at a hotel. Asrar arrives with his assailants to kill Vijay. Vijay takes them all down with a machine gun and kills Asrar, but he gets severely wounded and bedridden with a damaged sense of hearing.

Two weeks later, Vijay undergoes a heart transplant for his failing heart. In Scotland, Asrar's brother Abrar Haque learns of Asrar's death during Abrar's third wedding and publicly kills the messenger at the wedding. Abrar and his other brother Abid head to a house, where they shoot the man who was keeping tabs on Asrar, revealing Abrar was the one behind Balbir's assassination attempt. Vijay recuperates after several months and is approached by Zoya, the fiancée of his heart donor. Vijay starts an extramarital affair with Zoya, who eventually reveals that she was sent by Abrar to honeytrap him so that one of his brothers, who transformed himself into another Vijay through plastic surgery, would kill his family. Vijay reveals that he already knew this and played along to learn the mastermind's identity, but allows her to walk away unharmed.

Vijay learns from his grandfather, Rajdheer Singh, that Abrar and his brothers are Vijay's second cousins. They are the grandchildren of Shamsher Singh, Rajdheer's younger brother. Rajdheer had renounced Shamsher for his immoral antics. Shamsher's son Azim, who had converted to Islam and married a couple of times, was denied any share in Balbir's assets, which prompted Shamsher to commit suicide by setting himself on fire. Abrar, who had witnessed his grandfather's suicide, became mute from trauma. Later, Vijay reveals his affair with Zoya to Geethanjali, who becomes enraged, but the two put aside their differences.

Vijay and his cousins fly to Scotland and manage to stop Abrar and Abid from fleeing the country in a private jet. A violent fistfight ensues between Vijay and Abrar on the runway. Vijay defeats Abrar and kills him after Abrar refuses to stop targeting Balbir. During Diwali, Balbir reveals that he has stage 4 ALL with only a few months left to live. He realises that his lack of love for his son has always been the root cause of Vijay's aggression. Balbir finally apologises to Vijay, who later bitterly cries in the pain of losing his father. Geetanjali leaves Vijay for the US with their children, but their son Abhay runs back to Vijay.

In a post-credits scene, Aziz Haque, a butcher in Istanbul and the youngest of the Haque brothers, is revealed as the one who underwent plastic surgery to resemble another Vijay. Zoya and Abid are with him and Zoya is revealed to be pregnant, though she is unsure whether the child's father is Aziz or Vijay. After butchering two of Vijay's cousins very violently and brutally, Aziz sets out with Abid to exact revenge for the deaths of their two elder brothers.

Development
In September 2019, it was reported that Sandeep Reddy Vanga would turn into a producer for his next directional venture in Bollywood. It was further reported that he would produce the venture along with Murad Khetani, Ashwin Varde, Bhushan Kumar and Kishan Kumar under Cine1 Studios and T-Series. On 10 October, the company's and Vanga's new production banner Bhadrakali Pictures announced their collaboration for Vanga's next directional; marking their second collaboration after Kabir Singh (2019). In early December, Vanga was reported to have approached Ranbir Kapoor to play the lead role in the film. ETimes reported that Kapoor was "keen" to work on the film, however, would finalize it only after hearing the final script, which was still progressing writing.

In June 2020 however, it was reported that Vanga met Kapoor in January and narrated another script, which was reportedly titled Devil. In late December, Anil Kapoor was reported to be part of the cast. On 1 January 2021, the company's made an official public announcement of the venture, revealing also the title of the film and the crew. In late April, Bobby Deol and Parineeti Chopra were cast, with the former playing lead antagonist role, while the latter plays lead actress role.

In March 2022, it was reported that Rashmika Mandanna was to dance in an item number for the film. The same month, Mandanna had replaced Chopra, as Vanga was not satisfied with the casting of Chopra during photoshoots. On 2 April, Mandanna's commitments were officially announced. Mandanna called it "a dream come true." Vanga cited Kill Bill as the inspiration for the film's action sequences. Similarly, Kapoor's rockstar look was inspired by Michael Jackson, as reported by hairstylist Aalim Hakim.

Filming
Principal photography began in Manali in April 2022. The second schedule was in Mumbai in May 2022 and filming was held at Pataudi Palace in July 2022. The next schedules were held in Delhi and Punjab. The filming was wrapped up in mid-March 2023. The film resumed in England and Scotland beginning in April with a schedule of 15–20 days.

Music
The film score is composed by Harshavardhan Rameshwar, who scored Reddy's previous films Arjun Reddy and its Hindi remake Kabir Singh. The songs featured in the film are composed by Pritam, JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Ashim Kemson, Harshvardhan Rameshwar, Bhupinder Babbal, A. R. Rahman and Ajay–Atul. Lyrics were written by Manoj Muntashir, Raj Shekhar, Siddharth-Garima, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Ashim Kemson and Bhupinder Babbal.

The album features eight tracks with four singles—"Hua Main", "Satranga", "Papa Meri Jaan" and "Arjan Vailly" —were released before the audio launch. The soundtrack to Animal was released at a music launch and fan experience event held on 24 November 2023 at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai. A deluxe edition album was released on 15 January 2024, featuring nine additional tracks.

Marketing
The teaser was released on Kapoor's Birthday 28 September 2023. Arijit Singh held a concert in Chandigarh where Ranbir Kapoor joined him to promote film with the song Satranga on 4 November 2023. During the semi-final of 2023 Cricket World Cup, Ranbir Kapoor attended the stadium to watch the match and for promotional activities of the film on 15 November 2023. The teaser was showcased on Burj Khalifa on 18 November 2023, they also conducted film promotions at Marq Club and Dubai's Global Village on the same day in Dubai. The trailer was released on 23 November 2023. The cast appeared on the Unstoppable talk show, which premiered on Aha on 24 November 2023. They also appeared on Indian Idol. Before the pre-release event they conducted press conference tours in Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru. The film held its pre-release event in Hyderabad on 27 November 2023 with Mahesh Babu and S. S. Rajamouli as the chief guests.

Theatrical
Animal was initially set for an 11 August 2023 release, but was postponed due to post-production and dubbing work, as well as to avoid clashing with Jailer, Gadar 2 and Oh My God 2. It was theatrically released on 1 December 2023 in standard and IMAX formats in Hindi with dubbed versions in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada languages. The film was released across 4000 screens in India, the screen count was impacted due to the clash with Sam Bahadur which was releasing on the same day.

The film had planned to premiere in North America on 30 November 2023, a day before its release. In the United States, it will be screened in 888 theaters, marking the highest number for a Hindi film, surpassing the screen count of Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022) and Jawan (2023).

Animal received an A (adults only) certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification, a day prior to its trailer release, for strong bloody violence, profanity and some sexuality. It was classified 18 by the British Board of Film Classification for the same reason.

Distribution
AA Films acquired the theatrical rights of the film to distribute in North India and overseas. Sri Venkateswara Creations acquired the distribution rights for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. E4 Entertainment and AP International acquired distribution rights for Tamil Nadu and Kerala. KVN Productions acquired distribution rights for Karnataka. Moksha Movies and Nirvana Cinemas acquired theatrical distribution rights for North America.

Home media
The digital streaming rights of Animal were acquired by Netflix. The film premiered on Netflix on 26 January 2024. While Vanga initially stated that it would have an additional 8 minutes of footage, it was later announced that Netflix would stream the theatrical cut with no additional scenes. An English dub, with actor Nakuul Mehta lending his voice to Ranbir Kapoor's character, and actress Samridhii Shukla lending her voice to Triptii Dimri's character; began streaming on 8 February 2024.

On Netflix, Animal became one of the most watched films with 11.7 million viewership in first two weeks, surpassing films Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire and Dunki. Animal ranked in the top 10 in six countries in the first week, 17 countries in the second, and continued to maintain the ranking in the following weeks in nine countries.

Critical response
Awarding the film 4.5/5 stars, Bollywood Hungama praised "Ranbir Kapoor’s outstanding performance, clap-worthy massy scenes, and interval block." Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave 4/5 stars and wrote "Animal is relentless as a euphoric medley of feral rage and dance of the dysfunctional. The twists go on well until end credits as more blood is splattered our way." Ganesh Aaglave of Firstpost gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote,"Animal is an adrenaline experience which will have polarising views but you can't deny its entertaining quotient, breathtaking performances and storytelling." Puja Awasthi of The Week gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Animal for all its blood and gore, is the story of a son’s aching desire for his father’s approval. Why even its ballads are less romantic, more revenge. And its female characters for all their luminosity, are just props".

Monika Rawal Kukreja of Hindustan Times found it "an absolute massy, entertaining and extremely violent thriller which doesn't believe in conforming to the norms", while adding that the extreme violence might be off-putting for some. Titas Chowdhury of News18 gave 3.5/5 stars, labelled it "dark, loud and garish but also unapologetic", and thought that Ranbir Kapoor "breathes life into this undesirable character with a lot of charisma and swag". Abhimanyu Mathur of DNA India rated the film 3.5/5 and opined, "Animal takes everything that was problematic and increases it several notches. It is downright the most violent Hindi film I have seen, and also one of the most inherently toxic and misogynist. The amazing part is that it is still very well made and entertaining, enhanced further by yet another great performance from Kapoor".

Conversely, Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave 2.5/5 stars and termed the film "all swag and no substance derailed family drama"; she was critical of "Vanga's take on women or violence" but praised Ranbir's "raw sex appeal and unmatched intensity". India Today's Anvita Singh gave 2/5 stars and wrote "Ranbir Kapoor is stellar in problematic, paper-thin film." Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in wrote "Ranbir is on fire, inhabiting to a frightening degree Vijay's delusional personal war. Reptile-eyed even at his smoldering best, Kapoor's career-best performance makes Animal tough to stomach, but equally difficult to ignore".

In a negative review, Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express expressed disappointment that the performances of Ranbir and Anil Kapoor had been "wasted in this pointless, vile tale". Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote "The sickeningly violent father-son action drama rarely pauses for breath." Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute gave 1.5/5 stars and wrote: "Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film has the kind of writing you'll find in BDSM erotica like Fifty Shades of Grey, but presented with the same earnestness of 'pure love' that we saw in Arjun Reddy." Phuong Le of The Guardian gave 1/5 stars and wrote "Animal sinks even further into regressive depths, resulting in one of the vilest protagonists to have graced the big screen." Pranati A S of Deccan Herald gave 1/5 stars and wrote "If you thought Arjun Reddy was toxic, then Animal will rattle your cage."

Box office
Animal broke several box-office records for a Hindi film. The film had the fourth-biggest advance booking in Hindi cinema, and the third-highest for 2023 after Jawan and Pathaan. On its opening day, the film collected a total India net of inr 638000000 second highest after Jawan, worldwide gross of inr 1160000000 including overseas gross of US$5.5 million (₹46 crore). Eventually it became the highest non-holiday opening of all time for a Hindi film breaking the previous record held by Ranbir Kapoor's Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva. On its second day, netted over ₹67 crore and over ₹70 crore on third day in India for a three days total net collection of ₹201 crore and became one of the fastest Hindi film to achieve this after Jawan, making it third top opening weekend for Hindi films. Worldwide it earned over inr 1000000000 for three consecutive days during its opening weekend, for a total worldwide weekend gross collection of ₹356 crore (US$42.1 million). It had one of the highest Hindi net collection on its first Monday and Tuesday. In the first week it earned a total worldwide gross collection of inr 5630000000. On its 8th day, the film surpassed the lifetime worldwide collection of Sanju (2018) and becomes the highest-grossing film of Kapoor's career. On its 17th day, the film reached ₹500 crore net collection across all languages in India and on the same day the film crosses 3 crore footfalls in India. On its 35th day, the film reached ₹500 crore net in Hindi and ₹550 crore across all languages in India, eventually it became the second-highest net grossing Hindi film in India. Box Office India declared the film an All Time Blockbuster.

In the United States, the film was released alongside Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, Silent Night, Godzilla Minus One, and The Shift, and made $6.1 million from 888 theatres in its opening weekend, finishing in seventh place, behind the second weekend totals of Wish and Napoleon. Worldwide, it emerged as the No. 1 film on its opening weekend with the total of $42.1 million including the $13.88 million of international markets, surpassing all the films globally. In its first week the film earned over $19.2 million from international markets.

The film has grossed over inr 6623300000 in India and inr 2554900000 in overseas for a worldwide gross collection of inr 9178200000.

Sequel
The film's post-credits scene teases a sequel titled Animal Park, which was confirmed in December 2023 by Vanga. Shortly after the film's release, Vanga said the sequel would be "darker" and "meaner" than its predecessor. In an interview, Kapoor revealed Vanga had prepared and narrated a few scenes for the sequel to him.

In 2024, Vanga revealed that the shooting will commence in 2026. Saurabh Sachdeva, who played Abid in the film, similarly revealed that the sequel could begin filming in 2026 or 2027 due to both Vanga and Kapoor being busy with their respective projects, Spirit and Ramayana.