The much-awaited film Animal had its pre-teaser released yesterday to much anticipation and fanfare. The energetic Punjabi music combined with the gruesome action and eye-catching colour grading caught the fancy of viewers and critics alike, promising a brutal action drama Bollywood has been missing for a while. With the big-budget films of the industry failing miserably left and right barring a few exceptions, Animal looks like a silver lining in the dark cloud due to these 5 reasons.
SANDEEP REDDY VANGA
Known for his film Arjun Reddy and its Hindi remake Kabir Singh with the latter setting a benchmark for A-rated films in terms of box office collections, this story had a polarising view from the audience with many despising it due to its portrayal of toxic masculinity and accusing it of being misogynistic but the film still had major support from a huge chunk of the audience due to its soulful music, Shahid Kapoor’s earnest performance and a detailed character study of a flawed yet good-hearted human being. This shows that the director has a knack for making an iconic original film in his native language and spreading its impact throughout the country by adapting it for the whole nation which increases the expectation for his next project.
RANBIR KAPOOR
Known as a bonafide superstar of the new generation, Ranbir Kapoor boasts of a versatile filmography of critically and commercially successful films across genres, also breaking the record for the highest non-holiday opening for an original Hindi film thrice in his entire career which shows that he has a dedicated following ready to take out time and money to watch him on the big screen before the film even comes out. This will be his second foray into the action genre after last year’s Shamshera which was a colossal disaster but this project looks bright on paper for the star so far.
A-CERTIFICATE
Cinema which is made keeping adults in mind is often more raw and gritty with little to no filters to cater to a wider audience which is why most award-winning films in the US are R-rated movies. The director’s last film being an A-rated film was one of the main reasons it went on to become the rage it was as it was able to show the explicit language and substance abuse the character needed to make the film look more real which will be the case here as well with brutal violence already granting it an A-certificate. It has been over 4 years since an A-rated film has been organically successful in the Hindi film industry and this one surely looks like a strong candidate for that.
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NORTH INDIAN SETTING
The film will be set in Punjab which has been a big contributor to Bollywood in terms of providing iconic stories like Gadar, Dangal and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and huge box office returns. Only a few films targeted at this state have been produced after the pandemic and this state has a massive audience for action films. Big cities like Chandigarh, Mohali, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar consist of many expensive multiplexes and the general public here is ready to spend on films if they provide enough entertainment value with this being a story rooted in Punjab, the sky is the limit if the film manages to connect with audiences.
GANGSTER GENRE
The gangster genre has hit it big from the Southern industries with Pushpa and KGF being huge pop culture phenomenons and proving that this genre has a large fanbase all over the nation. The perks of this genre are that it provides a different sense of reality to the audiences that they can’t get in real life and watching an underdog succeed through illegal means gives a sense of accomplishment to the paying public too. Hence, this increases the anticipation for this film as not many gangster films have been made in this post-pandemic era.
After analyzing all these factors that make Animal a highly anticipated film, we can see that the excitement for it is at an all-time high which will ensure nothing but fireworks for the film at the box office if it is well-made.