A month after its release, Animal has surpassed Shah Rukh Khan’s 2023 debut offering Pathaan, grossing over INR 5.4 billion in India. According to Bollywood Hungama, the film has crossed the INR 9 billion mark at the global box office. The film, starring Ranbir, Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna and Bobby Deol, made headlines for its rather problematic storyline.
However, famous filmmaker Karan Johar called it the best work of the year. “People came up to me after I told them how much I loved Animal and said, ‘You did Rocky Aur Rani.’ It is the vaccination for a film like Animal.” It’s the opposite extreme. I said I can’t disagree with you more because for me Animal is the best film of the year,” Karan told Hindustan Times.
“It took me a while to come to this statement and I also gathered a lot of courage because when you are around people you fear judgment. Like during the time of Kabir Singh, whom I also loved… I was thinking of saying this now and I will get dirty looks from some people but I don’t care,” he added.
The director then explained why he loved “Animal” so much. “I loved ‘Animal’ for its exaggerated, faith-based, grammar-busting, myth-busting, over-the-top storytelling that destroys everything you think mainstream cinema is. Suddenly there’s a break where the hero gets beat up and everyone sings a song… I’m thinking, “Where have you seen a sequence like that?” It is awesome.
He continued: “At the end, when the two men faced each other and played this song… I had tears in my eyes, but there was only blood. So, I thought, there’s something wrong with me or there’s something wrong with There’s something wrong with him but there’s something good about this movie. It’s not an average ghost. He’s the ghost of someone so independent and so individual that I was blown away by it. I’ve watched the movie twice seen, first I think Animal’s success and acceptance is revolutionary. Conviction is something I want to have.