 "Lyricist Swanand Kirkire lashes out at Ranbir Kapoor's 'Animal' again: 'Sandeep Reddy Vanga rejected all forms of...'")
Remember how lyricist Swanand Kirkire expressed his displeasure over Ranbir Kapoor and Sandeep Vanga’s Animal back in 2023? He has spoken about his issues with the film again.
In an interview with The Lallantop, Kirkire said, ‘Hindi cinema was helping men like me, coming from places like Indore, understand what gender equality truly means. Even in Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D, women were shown as independent beings. And then, someone makes Animal.’
He added, ‘My issue isn’t with the film being made—it’s with the overwhelming acceptance it received. I remember the day I saw the film, I met a girl who had seen it twice.’
He elaborated more and said, ‘I don’t even mind if that’s a perspective. But the film claims that those who couldn’t be alpha males became poets, as if poetry is the last resort of insecure men. And yet, the same film uses poetry and lyrics to turn Ranvijay into an alpha male.’
And back in 2023, Swanand Kirkire had said, ‘Guru Dutt’s Saheb Biwi aur Ghulam, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anupama, Shyam Benegal’s Ankur and Bhumika, Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala, Sudhir Mishra’s Main Zinda Hoon, Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish, Vikas Behal’s Queen Shoojit Sarkar’s Piku, and many such films in Indian cinema that taught me how to respect a woman.’
He continued, ‘Her rights and her autonomy and even after understanding everything, there are still many shortcomings in this age-old thinking. I don’t know whether I succeeded or not, but even today I am constantly trying to improve myself. All thanks to cinema.’
He added, “But today after watching the movie Animal , I really felt pity for the women of today’s generation. Now, a new man has been prepared for you, who is more scary, who does not respect you that much and who aims to subdue you, suppress you and feels proud of himself. When you, the girls of today’s generation, were sitting in that cinema hall and applauding Rashmika, I in my mind paid tribute to every idea of equality. I have come home desperate, dejected and weak!”
Vanga lashed out at Kirkire for his critique on the film. The official account of the film wrote- ‘Do not let your knees fall ahead of your toes or cave in towards each other.’
Vanga added, ‘Keep feet shoulder-width apart to maintain a good base of support for balance. Land softly on the balls of the feet to help absorb the force of the landing. Yes…. now it landed perfectly (flying kiss emoticon) @swanandkirkire.’
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