Animal is an action drama movie in the Hindi language that was released in 2023. It was produced by Bhushan Kumar, Pranay Reddy Vanga, Krishan Kumar, and Murad Khetani under the banners of T-Series Films, Bhadrakali Pictures, and Cine1 Studios. Sandeep Reddy Vanga directed and edited the movie. Along with Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, Triptii Dimri, and Anil Kapoor, Ranbir Kapoor and Anil Kapoor are the film's stars. In the movie, Ranvijay Singh embarks on a journey of destruction and retaliation after learning of his father's attempted murder.

January 2021 saw the official announcement of the movie. With cinematography by Amit Roy, principal photography started in April 2022 and ended in April 2023. Pritam, JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Ashim Kemson, and Harshavardhan Rameshwar wrote the soundtrack for the movie. Animal is one of the longest Indian films ever created, clocking in at 201 minutes. The original release date of August 2023 was pushed back because of post-production work.

On December 1, 2023, Animal was released in theaters in both normal and IMAX formats. Critics gave it mixed reviews, praising the acting and technical features but criticizing the film's length, excessive violence, and plot. The creators were also charged by certain commentators with promoting misogyny and toxic masculinity. The movie shattered multiple records at the box office, both domestically and internationally, for a Hindi film.It is now the third highest-grossing Indian film of 2023, the fifth highest-grossing Hindi film, the ninth highest-grossing Indian film, the highest-grossing A-rated Indian film, and the highest-grossing of Ranbir Kapoor's career, having made ₹917.82 crore (US$110 million) in total worldwide.The movie garnered 19 nominations for the 69th Filmfare Awards and took home six major prizes, including Best Actor for Ranbir Kapoor. 



Storyline

The wealthy billionaire Balbir Singh, who is based in Delhi, is the father of Ranvijay "Vijay" Singh. Vijay has a strong and lasting love for his father Balbir, even though he is a harsh father. Balbir's hectic schedule prevents him from spending time with his family, therefore he is unaware of his son's love for him.One day, after Vijay threatens his elder sister Reet's bullies with an AK-47, Balbir sends him to a boarding school in the United States. After several years, Vijay comes home to complete his education. When Vijay and his brother-in-law Varun argue during Balbir's birthday celebration, Balbir kicks Vijay out of the house once more. After Vijay marries Geetanjali, his childhood sweetheart, the couple leaves their families behind and relocates to the United States.

Eight years later, after learning that Balbir was the target of an assassination attempt, Vijay, Geetanjali, and their two children leave for India. Vijay makes amends with his family after seeing his father and decides to find out who the assassin is. He gathers the support of his village cousins and hires Asrar Haque, a mobster, to serve as his father's body double. Asrar Haque kills his father in the end. At a session with his relatives, where Asrar is also present, Vijay publicly kills Varun after learning of his involvement in the attempted assassination.

At a hotel, Vijay and his cousins meet Freddy, an arms dealer, while Asrar and his attackers come with the intention of killing Vijay. Vijay kills Asrar by taking them all out with a machine gun, but not before suffering serious injuries that leave him bedridden and partially deaf. After two weeks, he awakens and has a heart transplant to treat his failing heart. Abrar Haque, Asrar's brother, murders one of his men in front of the wedding party in Scotland after learning of his death during Abrar's third marriage. Going to a residence, Abrar and his other brother Abid shoot the man who was monitoring Asrar, revealing that Abrar was the one who had plotted the attempt on Balbir's life.After a few months of recovery, Vijay receives a call from Zoya, the fiancée of his heart donor. Vijay initiates an extramarital relationship with Zoya, who later discloses that she was sent by Abrar to honeytrap him in order for one of his brothers—who had changed into another Vijay—to murder his family. Vijay admits that he was aware of this beforehand and had cooperated in order to find out who the mastermind was. 

Vijay finds out that Abrar and his siblings are his second cousins through his grandpa Rajdheer Singh. They are the grandchildren of Rajdheer's younger brother, Shamsher Singh. Shamsher had been disowned by Rajdheer for his immoral behavior. Shamsher killed himself by lighting himself on fire after his son Azim, who had become an Islamic convert and had been married a few times, was refused any inheritance from Balbir. Abrar was so traumatized by seeing his grandfather commit suicide that he went silent. When Vijay tells Geethanjali about his affair with Zoya, she gets upset and dejected, but they work past their problems.

Abrar is preparing to take off from the country in a private plane with Abid when Vijay and his cousins intercept him. A few hours are spent on the runway witnessing a bloody brawl. Abrar is asked by Vijay to quit pursuing Balbir, but he refuses. The story comes to a conclusion when Vijay viciously slashes Abrar's throat during the struggle.

Balbir discloses that he has stage 4 ALL and only has a few months to live while he is back in India for Diwali. He understands that the underlying source of Vijay's hostility has always been his lack of love for his son. At last, Balbir extends his regret to Vijay, who sobs uncontrollably at the loss of his father—the person he loved beyond all others. At this point, Geetanjali and their kids depart for the United States, but Abhay, their son, decides to return to Vijay.

Aziz Haque, the youngest of the Haque siblings and an Istanbul butcher, got plastic surgery to mimic another Vijay in a scene shown after the credits. While they are with him, Zoya and Abid reveal that she is pregnant, though it is unclear if Aziz or Vijay is the child's father. Following the terrible murder of two of Vijay's cousins, Aziz and Abid set out to avenge the deaths of their two older brothers.

Manufacturing

 Advancement

It was reported in September 2019 that Sandeep Reddy Vanga would become a producer for his upcoming directorial endeavor in Bollywood. It was also claimed that he would produce the project under Cine1 Studios and T-Series alongside Murad Khetani, Ashwin Varde, Bhushan Kumar, and Kishan Kumar.The firm and Vanga's new production brand, Bhadrakali Pictures, announced on October 10th that they would be working together on Vanga's next film, which will be their second joint venture following Kabir Singh (2019).Vanga reportedly invited Ranbir Kapoor to portray the movie's lead role at the beginning of December. According to ETimes, Kapoor was "keen" to work on the movie, but he wouldn't finish it until he heard the final script, which was still in the drafting stage.

But according to a June 2020 story, Vanga met Kapoor in January and narrated a different script that was purportedly named Devil.Anil Kapoor was rumored to be in the cast at the end of December.The film's title and cast were disclosed together with the company's official public announcement of the project on January 1, 2021.Bobby Deol and Parineeti Chopra were cast in late April; the former is the lead antagonist while the latter is the lead actress.

Rashmika Mandanna was reportedly set to dance in an item number for the movie in March 2022.Vanga was not pleased with Chopra's casting during picture shoots, thus Mandanna took over the role of Chopra that same month.Mandanna formally declared her commitments on April 2.It was described by Mandanna as "a dream come true."Vanga stated that the action scenes in the movie were influenced by Kill Bill.

Filming

 In April 2022, principal photography got underway in Manali.Filming took place in Pataudi Palace in July 2022, with the second schedule taking place in Mumbai in May 2022.The following schedules took place in Punjab and Delhi.In the middle of March 2023, the filming was completed. In April, the movie returned to England and Scotland for a 15–20 day run.

Soundtrack

Main article: Soundtrack for Animal

Harshavardhan Rameshwar, who composed the music for Reddy's earlier films Arjun Reddy and its Hindi version Kabir Singh, is the composer for this one. Pritam, JAM8, Vishal Mishra, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Shreyas Puranik, Ashim Kemson, Harshvardhan Rameshwar, Bhupinder Babbal, A. R. Rahman, and Ajay-Atul are the composers of the songs that are featured in the movie.Manoj Muntashir, Raj Shekhar, Jaani, Manan Bhardwaj, Ashim Kemson, and Bhupinder Babbal wrote the lyrics.

Eight tracks total—four of which—"Hua Main," "Satranga," "Papa Meri Jaan," and "Arjan Vailly"—were made available as singles prior to the audio release. On November 24, 2023, at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai, the music launch and fan experience event for Animal featured the premiere of the film's soundtrack.On January 15, 2024, a deluxe edition album was published, with nine extra recordings.

Promotion

On September 28, 2023, Kapoor's birthday, the teaser was made public.On November 4, 2023, Arijit Singh performed in Chandigarh, and Ranbir Kapoor joined him to promote the movie Satranga.On November 15, 2023, Ranbir Kapoor went to the stadium to witness the match and participate in movie promotion at the 2023 Cricket World Cup semi-final.On November 18, 2023, the teaser was unveiled atop the Burj Khalifa. The same day in Dubai, movie promotions were held at Marq Club and Global Village.On November 23, 2023, the trailer was made available.On November 24, 2023, the Unstoppable talk show made its debut on Aha, and the cast made an appearance.They were featured on Indian Idol as well.They conducted press conference tours in Hyderabad prior to the pre-release event.Bengaluru and Chennai. On November 27, 2023, the movie's pre-release ceremony was place in Hyderabad, with Mahesh Babu and S. S. Rajamouli serving as the main attendees.

Release

The theatrical animal was originally scheduled to open on August 11, 2023, but it was delayed because of post-production and dubbing needs, in addition to wanting to avoid conflicting with Oh My God 2, Jailer, and Gadar 2.On December 1, 2023, it was released in theaters in both normal and IMAX formats in Hindi, with Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada dubbing versions also available.In India, the movie debuted on 4000 screens; however, its release on the same day as Sam Bahadur caused some screen count issues.

One day prior to its release, on November 30, 2023, the movie was supposed to have its North American debut.It will be shown in 888 theaters in the US, which is more than any other Hindi movie and more than the combined number of screens for Jawan (2023) and Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva (2022).

One day before the trailer for Animal was released, the Central Board of Film Certification awarded the film an A (adults only) certificate for strong, graphic violence, profanity, and some sexual content.For the same reason, the British Board of Film Classification has assigned it a classification of 18.

Distribution

The movie's theatrical rights were purchased by AA Films for distribution in North India and beyond. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh's distribution rights were purchased by Sri Venkateswara Creations. Tamil Nadu and Kerala's distribution rights were purchased by E4 Entertainment and AP International. Karnataka's distribution rights were purchased by KVN Productions. For North America, the rights to theatrical distribution were purchased by Moksha Movies and Nirvana Cinemas.

Domestic media

Netflix purchased the rights to Animal's digital streaming.The movie debuted on Netflix on January 26, 2024. Netflix would stream the theatrical edit without any more scenes, despite Vanga's earlier claim that it would feature an extra eight minutes of video.On February 8, 2024, an English dub featuring actors Nakuul Mehta and Samridhii Shukla as Ranbir Kapoor and Triptii Dimri, respectively, went live on streaming services.

With 11.7 million viewers in the first two weeks on Netflix, Animal surpassed the popular movies Dunki and Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire in terms of viewership.In the first week, Animal was placed in the top 10 in six countries, in the second week, it was ranked in seventeen countries, and in the subsequent weeks, it was ranked in nine countries.


Acceptance

Box office

 For a Hindi film, Animal broke multiple box office records.After Jawan and Pathaan, the movie got the third-highest advance bookings for 2023 and the fourth-biggest advance bookings in Hindi cinema history.The movie made ₹63.8 crore (US$8.0 million) on its opening day in India, which was second most behind Jawan. Its global revenue was ₹116 crore (US$15 million), which included US$5.5 million (₹46 crore) from overseas.After all, it surpassed Ranbir Kapoor's Brahmāstra: Part One – Shiva to become the highest non-holiday opening of all time for a Hindi film.became one of the fastest Hindi films to reach ₹201 crore in three days after earning over ₹67 crore on its second day and over ₹70 crore on the third.Comes following Jawan, ranking third among Hindi cinema premieres this weekend.

During its first weekend, it made over ₹100 crore (US$13 million) three days in a row globally, for a total weekend gross collection of ₹356 crore (US$42.1 million).On both its initial Monday and Tuesday, it achieved one of the biggest Hindi net collections.It made ₹563 crore (US$71 million) in total worldwide gross collection in its first week of sales.After surpassing Sanju (2018)'s lifetime worldwide collection on its eighth day, the movie became the highest-grossing picture in Kapoor's career.The film crossed 3 crore foot traffic in India on its 17th day and achieved ₹500 crore net collection across all Indian languages.The movie made ₹500 crore net in Hindi on its 35th day, and ₹550 crore net in all of India's languages.In the end, it surpassed all other Hindi films in terms of net earnings in India.The movie was dubbed a "All Time Blockbuster" by Box Office India.

The movie debuted in the US with Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, Silent Night, Godzilla Minus One, and The Shift. It earned $6.1 million in its first weekend of release from 888 theaters, placing it seventh overall, behind Wish and Napoleon's second weekend totals.With $42.1 million from its first weekend, which included $13.88 million from international markets, it became the highest grossing movie worldwide, outperforming all other films combined.The movie brought in almost $19.2 million from overseas distribution in its first week of release.

The movie brought in over ₹662.33 crore (US$83 million) in India as of January 26, 2024, and ₹255.49 crore (US$32 million) abroad, for a total gross collection of ₹917.82 crore (US$110 million).

Critical reaction

Thirty-seven critics have given the film a good review on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 4.4 out of 10. The general judgment on the website is: "Animal goes wildly over the top to little avail. It's overlong, overly violent, and thinly written."Based on the opinions of four reviewers, the weighted average website Metacritic gave the movie a score of 33 out of 100, signifying "generally unfavorable" reviews.

Bollywood Hungama gave the movie 4.5/5 ratings and highlighted "Ranbir Kapoor’s outstanding performance, clap-worthy massy scenes, and interval block."Rediff reader Sukanya Verma rated the film Animal with five stars, saying that it is "a euphoric medley of feral rage and dance of the dysfunctional." The twists continue until the closing credits, when more blood is showered upon us.""Animal is an adrenaline experience which will have polarising views but you can't deny its entertaining quotient, breathtaking performances, and storytelling," stated Ganesh Aaglave of Firstpost, awarding the film 3.5 out of 5 stars. "Animal, for all its blood and gore, is the story of a son's aching desire for his father's approval," stated Puja Awasthi of The Week, awarding it 3.5/5 ratings. Why its ballads are more retaliatory than romantic. It's a woman, too.Despite their brilliance, characters are merely props.

It's "an absolute massy, entertaining and extremely violent thriller which doesn't believe in conforming to the norms," according to Hindustan Times' Monika Rawal Kukreja, who also noted that some people could find the overwhelming violence off-putting.movie's "dark, loud, and garish but also unapologetic," according to News18's Titas Chowdhury, who awarded movie 3.5/5 ratings and said that Ranbir Kapoor "breathes life into this undesirable character with a lot of charisma and swag."With a 3.5 out of 5 rating, Abhimanyu Mathur of DNA India said, "Animal takes everything that was problematic and kicks it up a notch." It is without a doubt the most sexist and poisonous Hindi movie I have ever seen. It is also the most violent. The astounding thing is that it's still incredibly entertaining and well-made, with even more improvements.By Kapoor's outstanding performance once again."

Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India, on the other hand, gave the movie 2.5 out of 5 stars and described it as "all swag and no substance derailed family drama"; she found fault with "Vanga's take on women or violence" but appreciated Ranbir's "raw sex appeal and unmatched intensity".Anvita Singh of India Today rated the movie two out of five stars, writing, "Ranbir Kapoor is stellar in problematic, paper-thin film.""Ranbir is on fire, inhabiting to a frightening degree Vijay's delusional personal war," noted Scroll.in's Nandini Ramnath. Even at his most smoldering, Kapoor's portrayal of a reptile-eyed guy makes Animal difficult to watch but equally hard to ignore. It's his career-best performance."

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express wrote a critical review, expressing sadness that Anil Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor's performances had been "wasted in this pointless, vile tale".With a rating of 1.5 out of 5, NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee commented, "The sickeningly violent father-son action drama rarely pauses for breath."With 1.5 ratings, Sowmya Rajendran of The News Minute stated, "Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film has the kind of writing you'll find in BDSM erotica like Fifty Shades of Grey, but presented with the same earnestness of 'pure love' that we saw in Arjun Reddy."Giving Animal a 1/5 rating, Phuong Le of The Guardian said, "Animal sinks even further into regressive depths, resulting in one of the vilest protagonists to have graced the big screen."If you thought Arjun Reddy was toxic, then Animal will rattle your cage," stated Pranati A. S. of the Deccan Herald, awarding it a 1/5 star rating.