Ram Gopal Varma shared his mixed reactions to Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s ‘Animal,’ praising its impactful action sequences while critiquing the father-son dynamic. Vanga responded to Varma’s feedback and defended the controversial shoe-licking scene, which also drew criticism from Javed Akhtar. The exchange highlights differing perspectives on the film’s creative choices and their reception.
Ram Gopal Varma and Sandeep Reddy Vanga clearly have a lot of respect for each other, but that doesn’t mean it’s all sweet talk. After cheering for Vanga’s 2023 hit Animal, Varma also pointed out a few parts of the film that didn’t quite work for him.
Why the father-son story didn’t work for him
RGV admitted he couldn’t connect with the father-son relationship in Animal, played by Anil and Ranbir Kapoor. He felt Anil’s character weakened the hero’s impact, making the story less convincing for him. Still, he acknowledged that audiences clearly enjoyed what didn’t quite work for him.On the show Jayammu NischayammuRaa with Jagapathi, Vanga laughed off Varma’s blunt feedback on Animal. He even reminded Varma of his dislike for the much-talked-about shoe-licking scene featuring Ranbir Kapoor and Triptii Dimri. Varma agreed, calling the moment inconsistent with the rest of the film.
The machine gun scene won him over
Still, RGV made it clear that Animal had its high points for him. He revealed the iconic scene of Ranbir storming out of a school with a machine gun actually got him clapping in the theatre for the first time ever. Praising Vanga’s style, Varma said the director doesn’t need grand sets or heavy VFX to create a larger-than-life impact—and even went as far as to call him a better filmmaker than Baahubali and RRR creator SS Rajamouli.
Javed Akhtar joins the debate on Animal
The infamous shoe-licking scene in Animal drew flak from many, including veteran writer Javed Akhtar, who criticized it during a speech—though he later admitted he hadn’t actually watched the film. Sandeep wasn’t pleased and said he was surprised that a writer of Akhtar’s stature couldn’t appreciate the moment.Vanga didn’t stop there—he called out Akhtar’s double standards for ignoring the cuss-filled violence of Mirzapur, produced by his son Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment. Javed hit back with a witty reply, saying he felt flattered that Vanga couldn’t find a single regressive moment in his long film career.
