'Animal' director reveals why he made Bobby Deol's character a Muslim

Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal is quite a hit at the box office. Ranbir Kapoor's latest offering has surpassed an impressive milestone of INR5 billion in India and inching towards the colossal INR9 billion mark worldwide. However, the film still faces certain criticism from fans and critics alike. 

One of the questions the Kabir Singh director faced was the reasoning behind making the antagonist of the film a Muslim. In a recent interview with Galatta Plus, Sandeep disclosed the rationale behind crafting the antagonist, Abrar (portrayed by Bobby Deol), as a Muslim despite belonging to a Sikh family in his new film. 

Abrar is depicted as the cousin of the protagonist, Rannvijay Singh, essayed by Ranbir. Sandeep clarified that the intention wasn't to depict the Muslim community negatively but rather to open up possibilities for potential sequels in the narrative.

Sandeep explained that he wanted Bobby's character to convert because of the personal trauma in his backstory. He said, “I’ve seen people when they enter a zone of zero confidence, people will come and say to them, ‘Go to a church, or go to a baba, he’ll give some taweez (pendant), change your name…’ I’ve seen people changing their religion because so much has happened to them. At a low point, they feel like it’s a new birth, it’s a change of identity completely… We see a lot of people converting to Islam and Christianity; we never see anybody converting to Hinduism."

The filmmaker said that the idea allowed him to portray Abrar as someone who has multiple wives and can have multiple children. “So, I thought I’ll use this because you can get multiple wives in Islam. I can have multiple cousins with different faces; the drama will be bigger. That’s the only reason. There was no intention to show a Muslim in a bad light,” he said.

In Animal, Abrar undergoes a profound emotional shift following the devastating loss of his father, rendering him speechless. Driven by vengeance after his brother's tragic demise, he embarks on a vendetta against Ranvijay, only to later discover their unexpected familial connection.

However, the film has sparked controversy over a particular scene where Abrar, consumed by the news of his brother's death, vents his anguish by unleashing his frustration upon his wives. In a disturbing turn of events, he also forcibly approaches his new wife, leading to a scene depicting marital rape, drawing criticism from certain quarters.

Talking about it, Bobby had said previously to The Quint, “I’m not trying to promote anything. Yes, it was required. How do you showcase a character in such a short span, show what this man is capable of, what kind of person he is? All these scenes were required.” He also said that his mother Prakash Kaur couldn’t bear to watch the film.

However, previously, Mansi Taxak, the actor who essayed Abrar's third wife, landed herself in hot waters after passing comments on her controversial wedding night scene from the recently released. However, in an interview with Zoom Entertainment, Mansi denied any form of assault occurring in the scene. Nodding at Abrar’s 'twisted' nature, the actor attributed his actions to his ‘animal instincts' during the specific sequence. 

During the interview, Mansi was directly questioned about the wedding scene where Abrar reacts violently after receiving news of his brother's death. “It is shocking, of course,” she stated. “Nobody expects their wedding to end that way. When the wedding sequence starts, if you see the lights [and] the way the art was done, it was beautiful. You hear the music that has gone viral on Instagram. It was heading towards a beautiful end and suddenly, you see something like this happening,” the actor appreciated the scene’s opening aesthetics.

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