Whatever the prudes may say about the excessive sex-laden dialogues in Animal, whatever the older generation may think about the gruesome violence and free use of four-letter words in the film, the fact is that at least Rs. 100 crore extra will come into the film’s kitty because of these. Animal has tremendous shock value, and that is translating into footfalls of the masses and youth and, therefore, huge box-office collections. Yes, a section of the women and family audience may feel repulsed by the violence and vulgarity, but there is a whole army of audience who are frequenting the cinemas to watch the Ranbir Kapoor starrer only because of the excessive violence and liberal use of four-letter words and sexual dialogues as well as dialogues about very personal male issues. In fact, the youngsters are repeating the film for this very reason.
It is for the first time in Bollywood history that an A-list hero has mouthed raw dialogues of the kind we hear in Animal. In the film, Ranbir Kapoor speaks the language of the youth of today as the F-word drops as easily from his mouth as it does from the mouths of the youngsters in daily life. Young girls and guys have no qualms about discussing their sex lives with peers in vivid detail and that’s what Ranbir Kapoor is shown doing on screen in the film. Of course, he talks dirty to his wife (played by Rashmika Mandana), not with friends. But the fact remains that it is for the first time that the Hindi film-going audience have got to see a top hero behaving the way they themselves do in real life — totally carefree, transparent and with a who-cares attitude. In other words, for the youth, Ranbir Kapoor is “just like us”, he represents Gen Y and Gen Z. With this kind of identification, Animal was bound to score — and score big time! For the youth, it is akin to endorsement by a top hero of the way they like to lead their lives. And mind you, this is not only about the youth in the few metropolitan cities, the mood and aspirations are the same for youth in every city and maybe even town of the country.
Will this start a trend of such films where violence is raw, and dialogues are real because they are full of swear words and sexy? It seems so! But that’s the dangerous part of the stupendous success of Animal because that’s where most of the producers would go wrong. It is not just the hard-hitting and risqué content of the violent film which is working its magic on the viewers, but also the attitude of hero Ranbir Kapoor. Had Ranbir been even slightly awkward in mouthing those dialogues, the magic would’ve vanished or, at least, diminished to a large extent. One is not sure, how many heroes would be able to exhibit the kind of attitude which Ranbir Kapoor has in Animal, while speaking the high-on-sex dialogues he does. And if writers and directors make films with similarly risqué content but are unable to get actors with the same attitude, it’s the wrong path they are treading.
So, producers, filmmakers and writers would do well to bear this in mind before they join the bandwagon of making bold films. For, Animal is beautiful at the box-office not just because it is bold but also because the hero has carried off those bold scenes with elan. His right attitude, style and uninhibited acting is key to making the bold content palatable and enjoyable!