Animal (2023 film)

Animal is a 2023 Indian Hindi-language action drama film directed and edited by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Pranay Reddy Vanga and Saurabh Gupta. The film is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Pranay Reddy Vanga, Krishan Kumar, and Murad Khetani under T-Series Films, Bhadrakali Pictures, and Cine1 Studios. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, and Tripti Dimri. In the film, Ranvijay "Vijay" Singh learns about an assassination attempt on his father and sets out to exact revenge.

The film was officially announced in January 2021, along with the title of the film. Principal photography commenced in April 2022 and wrapped by April 2023. The film has music composed by JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Ashim Kemson, and Harshwardhan Rameshwar. The cinematography was handled by Amit Roy and editing by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. With a runtime of 201 minutes, the film was one of the longest Indian films made.

Animal was initially set for an 11 August 2023 release but was postponed due to post-production work It was theatrically released on 1 December 2023 in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada languages in standard and IMAX formats. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for storytelling, action sequences, and Kapoor's performance but some critics found it misogynistic. Earning around ₹864.77 crores (US$110 million), Animal has emerged as a major commercial success as the third highest-grossing Indian film of 2023, 9th highest-grossing Indian film, and highest-grossing A-rated Indian film of all time.

Plot

Ranvijay "Vijay" Singh is the son of Balbir Singh, a Delhi-based business magnate who heads the generational steel company called "Swastik Steels". He has adored his father since childhood, but Balbir neglects him due to his busy schedule. After an incident where Vijay ambushes his sister's bullies with an AK-47, Balbir sends him away to a boarding school in America. Vijay returns after completing his education and convinces his former schoolmate Geetanjali, whom he has always loved, to break off her engagement and choose him.

During Balbir's 60th birthday, Vijay argues with his sister's husband Varun, and is kicked out of the house. He breaks off contact with his family, marries Geetanjali, and moves to America, where the couple has two children. Eight years later, he learns that his father was shot by unidentified assailants, prompting him to return to India to find the person responsible. He rounds up his cousins from his native village in Punjab to help in his mission and sets up a doppelgänger named Kailash for Balbir. Kailash is killed by Asrar Haque's team as they mistake him to be Balbir.

Vijay discovers that Varun was involved in the assassination attempt and kills him during a meeting. He then goes to a hotel to meet an arms dealer, but Asrar's team arrives in droves to kill him. After a lengthy battle, he defeats them but sustains brutal injuries and goes into a coma. Upon waking two weeks later and undergoing a heart transplant, Vijay learns that his heart donor was the fiancée of a woman named Zoya. Vijay begins an affair with Zoya, who soon falls for him. Zoya reveals that she was actually sent by Asrar's brother Abrar Haque.

Abrar had sent her to honey-trap Vijay to kidnap and replace him with a doppelgänger who would massacre his family. Vijay reveals that he knew this all along and simply wanted to discover the identity of the actual perpetrator. He learns from his grandfather Rajdheer that Abrar and his brothers are part of Vijay's family; they are the grandsons of Rajdheer's younger brother Shamsher Singh, making Vijay their cousin. Abrar planned the attempt on Balbir's life to avenge his own father Azim Haque, who was denied a share of their property.

This led to Shamsher committing suicide in front of Abrar, which traumatized him and rendered him mute. Vijay and his cousins barge into Abrar's house in Scotland to kill him but learn that Abrar has escaped with his brother Abid in their private jet. They stop the flight and Vijay and Abrar engage in a brutal fight that ends with Vijay killing Abrar. During the family Diwali celebration, Balbir reveals that he has terminal cancer and has realized his failures as a father. Balbir finally reconciles with Vijay, who rejoices in attaining his love after many years.

In the mid-credits scene, Aziz revealed to be another one of Abrar's brothers, has successfully undergone plastic surgery to become Vijay's doppelgänger and Zoya is now pregnant, though unsure if the baby is Aziz's or Vijay's. Aziz kills two of Vijay's cousins and sets out with Abid to exact vengeance on Vijay for his brothers' deaths.

Cast

• Ranbir Kapoor in a dual role as Ranvijay Singh and Aziz Haque
  • Ahmad Ibn Umar as young Vijay
• Anil Kapoor in a dual role as Balbir Singh and Kailash Petkar
• Bobby Deol as Abrar Haque
  • Leon Ung as young Abrar
• Rashmika Mandanna as Geetanjali Iyengar, Vijay's wife
  • Diyara Valecha as young Geetanjali
• Tripti Dimri as Zoya
• Charu Shankar as Jyoti Singh, Balbir's wife, and Reet, Vijay and Roop's mother
• Babloo Prithiveeraj as Asrar Haque, Abrar's brother
• Shakti Kapoor as PK Mishra, COO of Swastik Steels Corp.
• Prem Chopra as Dalbir Dodamal Singh "Bade Daji", Rajdheer's elder brother
• Madhu Raja as Rani Kaur "Beeji", Dalbir Singh's wife
• Suresh Oberoi as Rajdheer Dodamal Singh "Dadaji", Vijay's grandfather and Balbir's father
• Saurabh Sachdeva as Abid Haque, Abrar's brother
• Saloni Batra as Reet Singh, Vijay's elder sister and Varun's wife, Balbir and Jyoti's eldest child
  • Neeven Vaid as young Reet
• Anshul Chauhan as Roop Singh, Balbir and Jyoti's youngest child, Vijay and Reet's younger sister
  • Eva Chibber as young Roop
• Siddhant Karnick as Varun Pratap Malhotra, Reet's husband, and Vijay's brother-in-law
• Maganti Srinath as Karthik, Geetanjali's elder brother and Vijay's friend
• Davy Grewal as Sangram Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Vivek Sharma as Paali Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Gagandeep Singh as Sunny Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Kawalpreet Singh as Vikram Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Amanjot Singh as Guru Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Manjot Singh as Rajbir "Royal" Singh, Vijay's cousin and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Avdeep Sindhu as Manjot Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Kamaljeet Rana as Balli Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Gursewak Singh Mander as Kirpal "KP" Singh, Vijay's cousin and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Butta Badbar as Butta Singh, Vijay's cousin, and Dalbir Singh's grandson
• Upendra Limaye as Freddy Wilfred Patil
• Mathew Varghese as Shreepad Balaji Iyengar, Karthik, and Geetanjali's father
• Indira Krishnan as Motika S. Iyengar, Karthik and Geetanjali's mother
• Mrinmayee Godbole as Dr. Amrita

Production

Development

In September 2019, it was reported that Sandeep Reddy Vanga would turn 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 in 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 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 the lead antagonist role, while the latter played the lead actress role.

In March 2022, Rashmika Mandanna was reported to dance in an item number for the film. The same month, it was reported that Chopra had backed out of the film, due to schedule conflicts, and was replaced by Mandanna On 2 April, Mandanna's commitments were officially announced. Mandanna called it "a dream come true."

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

Main article: Animal (soundtrack)

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 JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Ashim Kemson, and Harshwardhan Rameshwar, while the background score was composed by Harshwardhan Rameshwar. 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"  was 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.

Marketing

The teaser was released on Kapoor's Birthday 28 September 2023.^[39] Arijit Singh held a concert in Chandigarh where Ranbir Kapoor joined him to promote the film with the song Satranga on 4 November 2023. During the semi-final of the 2023 Cricket World Cup, Ranbir Kapoor attended the stadium to watch the match and for promotional activities for the film on 15 November 2023. The teaser was showcased at 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. The film held its pre-release event in Hyderabad on 27 November 2023 with Mahesh Babu and S. S. Rajamouli as the chief guests.

Release

Animal was initially set for an 11 August 2023 release but was postponed due to post-production and dubbing work. It was theatrically released on 1 December 2023 in Hindi with dubbed versions in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada languages.

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).

The animal received an A (adults only) certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification, a day before its trailer release, for strong bloody violence, profanity, and some sexuality. It has been classified as 18 by the British Board of Film Classification

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