Rajkummar Rao calls out toxicity in 'Devdas' and 'Animal'

Despite loving the films, actor sees them as cautionary tales

Rajkummar Rao, one of Bollywood's most versatile actors, recently opened up on a hot topic—whether films are guilty of glorifying negative characters. His take? It's all about how you choose to see the story. During a chat on Raj Shamani's podcast, Rajkummar was quizzed on people connecting with Shah Rukh Khan's iconic portrayal of Devdas. For those who missed it, Devdas is that tragic love story where the main character spirals into a world of self-destruction. But here's what Rajkummar had to say about anyone who thinks it's cool to be Devdas: "If you want to become Devdas after watching it, the problem is in you."

He didn't stop there. Rajkummar pointed out that Devdas is based on a novel and serves as a character study, not a blueprint for life. "The director isn't asking anyone to become like him, and it's based on a book. It's a character story. He dies in the end. He is telling you if you do this, you're going to die sooner." In other words, it's more of a cautionary tale than a life goal.

Switching gears, the Mr & Mrs Mahi actor couldn't help but rave about Ranbir Kapoor's latest flick, Animal. Despite some minor quibbles with a few scenes, he was all in on the experience. "I loved Animal, the experience of watching Animal. I enjoyed it. I loved Ranbir in it and his performance in the film was mind-blowing," he shared, giving credit where it's due.

He even brought up a film critic's take, noting that the film isn't called "Adarsh Purush" (Perfect Man) for a reason—it's meant to show the raw, untamed side of human nature. "The director wanted to show the story of an animal," Rajkummar explained.

Animal (2023) is an action-packed drama directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga and a star-studded cast including Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, and Triptii Dimri. Sure, it's faced some heat for allegedly promoting toxic masculinity and misogyny, but that hasn't stopped it from raking in INR917 crore worldwide.

As for Rajkummar, he's been keeping busy with his recent hit, Stree 2, the much-anticipated sequel to Stree. This horror-comedy, which hit theatres on August 15, also stars Shraddha Kapoor with special appearances by Akshay Kumar and Varun Dhawan.