After unveiling a teaser some weeks ago, followed by several songs that revealed more footage from the movie, T-Series has now released the first trailer for the hotly anticipated Animal. Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga and starring Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role, the film has been described as a romantic crime thriller, and is proudly wearing its adults-only tag. In Animal, Ranbir plays the scion of a business family, who goes on a hyper-violent revenge mission his beloved father is attacked.
The trailer begins with Ranbir Kapoor and Anil Kapoor’s characters play-acting a memory from the past. This exchange highlights the toxic dynamic that they share, but also establishes the intensity with which the protagonist hero worships his dad. As the years go by, Ranbir’s character starts acting out, much to the concern of his parents. After his dad is attacked, Ranbir’s character vows to never leave his family’s side, and swears vengeance. It’s like The Godfather, but with a Punjabi rap video aesthetic.
What unfolds is an all-out gang war, with Bobby Deol’s mute villain showing up in the second half of the trailer. It is implied that the protagonist kills someone in Bobby’s family in his revenge mission, which sets them on a direct collision course with each other. The trailer ends with the hero and the villain fighting shirtless on an airstrip.
Vanga rose to prominence with the Telugu film Arjun Reddy, starring Vijay Deverakonda as an alcoholic doctor. The director remade the film in Hindi as Kabir Singh, with Shahid Kapoor in the lead role. Both Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh were big box office hits, but were also criticised for glorifying toxic masculinity. Hints of Vanga’s now-signature portrayal of gender dynamics were also glimpsed in the teaser for Animal, in which the protagonist warned his partner, played by Rashmika Mandanna, to never utter a word against his father. In the trailer as well, Ranbir’s character chokes Rashmika’s character for pointing out his daddy issues.
A day prior to the trailer’s release, Vanga announced on social media that the film has officially been rated ‘A’ by the Central Board of Film Certification, and clocks in at over three hours and 20 minutes long. This makes Animal one of the longest mainstream Hindi releases in recent memory, and only five minutes shorter than Martin Scorsese’s epic Killers of the Flower Moon.
Animal will clash at the box office with Vicky Kaushal’s period drama Sam Bahadur, directed by Meghna Gulzar. The box office is hoping for a revival, after Tiger 3 didn’t dominate the marketplace as resoundingly as had been expected. Ranbir last starred in the romantic comedy Tu Jhoothi Main Makkkaar, which made over Rs 200 crore worldwide, but also cost nearly that amount to produce. A similar situation unfolded with Brahmastra, which was barely able to recover its reported Rs 400 crore budget at the box office. Animal, on the other hand, is said to have cost Rs 100 crore.
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Animal trailer: Ranbir Kapoor chokes Rashmika Mandanna for pointing out his daddy issues in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s hyper-violent Kabir Singh follow up – The Indian Express
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