Animal: Tripti Dimri opens up on Ranbir Kapoor's problematic 'lick my shoe' dialogue, says, 'He does ask...'

Ranbir Kapoor starrer Animal has turned out to be a monstrous blockbuster at the box office. While the film has grossed over Rs 500 crore at the global box office, the film has garnered criticism for showing toxic masculinity, especially in a scene where Ranbir Kapoor’s character Ranvijay tells Zoya (Tripti Dimri) to lick his shoe.

Now, the Laila Majnu actor has opened up about this controversy and told Indian Express.com, “It reminded me of what my acting coach had told me, the golden rule: Never judge your character. The characters you are playing, the character your co-actor is playing, all are human and humans have good and bad side. An actor must be prepared to play characters across the spectrum of good, bad and ugly, but if you judge a character’s motivations, thoughts, you won’t be able to play it with honesty. So that’s what I kept in mind.” She added, “I also thought that here was a woman who talks about killing his wife, father, kids, the entire family… If someone tells me that, I will perhaps beat that person! Here, he does ask her to do that (lick his shoe) but also walks away later. He clearly is going through a lot of these (intense thoughts). Later when his cousins asks her what they should do with me, he says ‘Let her go wherever she wants to.’”

Directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga of Kabir Singh and Arjun Reddy fame,  _Animal_ also stars Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Sonali Batra and Rashmika Mandanna in the lead roles. It locked horns with Vicky Kaushal, Fatima Sana Shaikh and Sanya Malhotra starrer Sam Bahadur at the ticket windows. The film is currently the fourth highest-grosser of 2023 after Jawan, Gadar 2 and Pathaan.