Anurag Kashyap Defends Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal; Calls Film a "Tectonic Shift" in Cinema

Anurag Kashyap recently sparked controversy by praising Sandeep Reddy Vanga and his film Animal on Instagram, calling Vanga the "most misunderstood" filmmaker. In a recent podcast, Kashyap has now defended his support for Vanga, citing the importance of dialogue and understanding differing perspectives.

Hyderabad:Anurag Kashyap met Sandeep Reddy Vanga earlier this year wherein the two discussed the latter's 2023 film Animal starring Ranbir Kapoor. Kahsyap had showered affection on the Animal director referring to him as the 'most misunderstood, criticised and judged filmmaker at the time' on Instagram. Now, In a recent episode of Young, Dumb & Anxious, his daughter Aaliyah Kashyap's podcast, Anurag answered, "What in the world was the Sandeep Reddy Vanga post?"

Terming Animal 'awful' and 'misogynistic,' Aaliyah expressed her disappointment at Anurag's promotion of the picture. Anurag replied to Aaliyah, saying, "I felt a connection with Sandeep Reddy Vanga when we met. We had a five-hour session during which I asked him questions of my own and wanted to discuss his movie, Animal. I really like the guy. I've always thought that interacting with others is important. Many people cancelled me after Dev D (2009) because I made a "misogynistic" movie... I have often seen people isolating someone, attacking someone and that is not the way to be"

"This man (Sandeep), what you see is what he is," the director continued, adding, "Animal may or may not be liked by audiences, but regardless of how it turns out, the film brought a tectonic shift in how films are made. In 5–10 years, people will realise its significance. After Animal, every action film appears fake. If you see Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (starring Tiger Shroff and Akshay Kumar), all those flips and fighting scenes look artificial since the audience was impacted by the film's technical aspects, music, and action in an unpredictable way. That will always have an impact on film."

Talking about Animal, it was one of the biggest box office successes of 2023. The film centres on a strained connection between a father and son. Ranbir Kapoor plays Rannvijay Singh, a man who seeks retribution after his father is targeted for murder. In addition, Prem Chopra, Suresh Oberoi, Triptii Dimri, and Rashmika Mandanna made appearances in the film.