rohonnag

Its hard to define 'Animal' in a particular genre. It's a father son story, it has action elements, romantics ones, its supposed to be mass entertainer but it also has this intelligence and class demanded by the script.

Animal's core story is a son seeking his fathers' approval. There is a lot more sub plot apart from this, which elevates it from a simple film to something along the lines of Godfather.

Acting: Ranbir Kapoor is the best nepo kid actor in Bollywood for sure. This is a guy who might have been a superstar even without the Kapoor Lineage. This film has him play a similar dynast and it's a casting match made in heaven. Ranbir and the director takes his character and elevates the whole thing to another level. Ranbir's character Vijay often sprouts American terms since his upbringing has been shown to be in the states. It's a bit similar to Micheal Corleone who is raised up in Italy in the Godfather. Throughout the films various acts Ranbir is beyond rock solid. An acting tour de force. He has surpassed his peers by far.

Anil Kapoor is solid and dependable as always. He plays the stoic no nonsense father figure to perfection and does not miss a beat. Overall his character is a bit similar to the one he played in Dil Dhadkne do, so this is not something entirely different than we have seen him play but whatever material he has been given, he does rather well.

Rashmika Mandana, for me this actor is an eye sore. Neither is her expressions believable, her dialog delivery is pathetic and its actually difficult to make out what she is mumbling most of the time. The internet's trolling of her dialog delivery in the trailer is fully justified. Even during her introduction scene, she speaks like she has paan in her mouth. She definitely brings down the film, I am very curious to know why she has been cast in the first place! She is definitely the weakest link in this film. Any other actress would have been better than her.

Shakti Kapoor has a brief role in the film and is surprisingly solid. His character is not very well defined, but this has to be the most sober role he has done in a while.

The Music: The songs make this film whole. Most movies like Jawan for example have good songs, but the songs are not the life of the film, in this the songs define the movie. Each and every song has its place and is there for a reason. Without them the movie doesn't work.

The Action: The violence in this film when it gets unleashed is on another level for a Indian film. Only Korean films can match this level of violence. So the A rating is justified. I wish to see the longer director's cut of this film and if that has even more gore and violence.

Overall : The start and the end of the film CANNOT be missed. I can understand many missing the start, but how does one miss the ending? Well, most people started to leave when the credits rolled. But like a Marvel film, sit still. The movie doesn't end till the credits are done and then there one more scene. The movie is going in while the credits are rolling so it doesn't get boring. The audience that walked away at the start of the credits, doesn't know what they missed.

So donot miss the ending of the film.

Rating : 9.5/10. The first half of the film is a 10/10 for me. The interval block is beyond amazing. The second half does drag a bit especially Rashmika's scenes. So over the film is a solid 9.5 for me.

I dont like the lead actor, but despite that I decided to see this film as it is about a topic which is close to me. The formation Bangladesh from East Pakistan.

Pippa is competently made, the acting is average. The main point is, the tanks are REAL! Having real tanks in the film is a huge step up from Tejas.

The VFX is mostly well done, some of the enemy tanks look a bit CGI but thats all right.

The film doesn't go into to much of detail about the whole war, stopping it from being an war Epic.

The first song in the film is atrocious and skippable, but there are no more songs after that thankfully.

Do watch the film, its not the best war film, but its a good coming of age war film.

I had liked OMG (2012) a lot. It raised the topics of false god-men, wasteful nature of certain worshiping rituals and many such topics. OMG 2 is an even better film. It raises the topic of Sex education and despite being the most populous country in the word, the act of sexual intercourse and any knowledge regarding the same is a taboo subject.

This film's lead is Pankaj Tripathi and he really shines in the role. He manages to catch the MP local accent and mannerisms perfectly. He is the lead of the film and he is really convincing in his character.

Akshay Kumar as Lord Shiva's Doot (Rolling my eyes as this was a censorship demand) is good in his role but not great. He played Krishna Bhavan a bit more convincingly in OMG. Still he isn't wasted, despite his role being more of a cameo, he guides the storyline and helps out the protagonist and his family in their time of need.

Pawan Malhotra as the judge has done fine work. From being a skeptical and high handed initially to slowly turning more understanding, his comic timing with Pankaj Tripathi is spot on. He manages to generate a lot of laughs without compromising his character or making the judge look ridiculous.

Yami Gautam as the opposing counsel is shown as sharp and manipulative as a good lawyer probably should be. Her character doesn't have a arch but does what is given to her rather competently without being cringe inducting or screechy. She manages to hold the dignity of her character without being a out an out villain.

The songs of the film are decent, but I liked the songs from the first one a lot more.

But all of that aside, the film as a whole is a very important one for Indians. It deals with a topic which is rarely discussed and needs to talked about a lot more openly. As for those crying about how the movie is anti-Hindu. Its not.

It shows Sanatan dharma as one of the very few dharmas which understood the important of Kaam a long time ago and has a lot of antient literature about the same topic. The film shows Sanatan culture is a positive light but people too short sighted might not understand that. Nowhere is there judgement against any Hindu god or goddess in the film. The film is also quite apolitical with no involvement of political entity in the script unlike the first one. The main character is not An Athiest or agnostic, he is shown as a true believer of Lord Shiva. Nothing shown in the film seemed slightly offensive. As for why they don't make such films based on other religions?

Well, this particular film is all about how enlightened our ancestors were thousands of years ago, the same cant be said about the other religions which didn't even exist back then. In fact, Sanatan Dharma is not a religion but a way of life. People often seem to confuse Dharma with Religion.

Rating : I would like to give this film a 9.5/10. This is a movie which is a must watch for everyone, especially Indians.

Overall : This movie is mostly a courtroom drama, but it doesn't get preachy or screechy at any point, nor is their cringe inducing over drama. This is the sort of films we want out Indian Film industry to make, so its important that the audience support such films so we get more of this and less of whatever Adipurush was... (I cant honestly call it a film). I was really happy to see that film which has Pankaj in the lead was totally housefull on a Sunday morning show. Despite clashing with Gadar 2, it seems to be doing well due to good word of mouth. This film really deserves to be seen by one and all.