Rajkummar Rao 'Loved' Ranbir Kapoor In Animal, Admits Having 'Some Issues': 'His Performance Was...'

Even nine months after its release, Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal continues to make headlines. Recently, Rajkummar Rao also talked about the film and shared that he ‘loved’ it. The actor also praised Kapoor’s performance in the Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial and called it ‘mind-blowing’. However, Rajkummar also admitted that he had ‘some issues’ with the film.

“I loved Animal, the experience of watching Animal. I enjoyed it. Did I have some issues with the film? Maybe. Some scenes here and there, yes. But did I not enjoy the film? Of course not, I enjoyed the film, I enjoyed the experience of watching the film. I loved Ranbir Kapoor in it and his performance in the film was mind-blowing,” Rao said during his recent appearance on Raj Shamani’s podcast.

Released in December 2023, Animal revolved around a man and his toxic relationship with his father. The film showed Vijay (played by Ranbir) as an anti-hero who would go to any lengths to protect his father, including gunning down 200 people. However, despite his efforts, he struggled to get a seal of approval from his emotionally unavailable father (played by Anil Kapoor). The film was a box office success and earned over Rs 900 crore worldwide. However, it was also criticised by many who argued that the Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial was toxic and misogynistic.

Recently, Javed Akhtar also cited Animal while he was addressing the concept of the ‘angry young man’ in films, stating that expressing irrational anger that isn’t directed at anything specific starts to turn the character into a caricature. “I have not seen Animal. People told me about it, and I read in the news that he asks her to lick his shoe. She bends down, but thank god they cut it right there,” he said during an episode of We Are Yuvaa.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt also reacted to the criticism Ranbir faced following Animal’s release and noted that public scrutiny is an inevitable aspect of the entertainment industry. “That’s also part of entertainment… It is a blood sport. You get into the arena and there will be people celebrating you falling down and there will be people celebrating you triumphing. So that’s a part of it,” he said.