“There’s so much pressure that cinema has buckled under it.” Dialogue writer of “Animal” debates the film’s criticism at FICCI Frames 2024, with Brut as the cultural partner.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00An intelligently made problematic film is what is more problematic, that's it.
00:10Shahid, we wanted to make this film into a film.
00:13You said chilling, I think it's a good idea.
00:15Let's just chill.
00:17Papa, can you hear me? I'm not deaf.
00:31Veer Kapoor, the hero, can behave like this.
00:35Can say that you change four pads in a month, you act.
00:41If the hero can say stuff like that, the man who's watching can very well think it.
00:48Even if he won't go ahead and say it, if he won't repeat it.
00:52He can say in his jobs that he has acted so much, he should get a leave today.
00:57Because he's being a dad.
00:58Along with cinema, making men understand the importance of sanitary napkins.
01:03Making them understand that smoking is bad.
01:06Cinema has become such a burden.
01:09Let's have some fun.
01:12It's also Islamophobia, which is so rampant anyway today, in my opinion.
01:20There is a certain legitimization that this film does towards that as well.
01:25Because we logically thought that Abrahak was in the film.
01:29Because there was an old feud in the relationship, so his grandfather left.
01:33He changed his religion there.
01:35For us, this was logically a one-two-one-two thing.
01:37Now we're realizing, okay, there is a view of that.
01:41But the hero is just as big a demon as the villain.
01:47And he's a Hindu, so no one said that you acted like a Hindu.
01:51It's one thing to say that this is a story, the character did this.
01:55But we have to stop and think that you made this character.
01:59You decided this story for that character.
02:02So what is it about you that's making that character do that?
02:07You're saying that his brother went abroad and changed his religion.
02:13You have decided that that character is going to change their religion and become a Muslim.
02:18And a very stereotypical Muslim who's going to have three wives.
02:22Who's going to be aggressive and beat up the wives.
02:28Pounce on his wife in front of all the hungry people.
02:32Yes, there is a lot of problem with all of this.
02:35How a community is being portrayed in our cinema of late.
02:41And the films that are coming out.
02:43These are questions to be had at a broader level.
02:46And a discussion to be had at a broader level.
02:48In the end, I think it's the woman who's losing everything.
02:52She had left her family.
02:54She said, I don't want a husband, I want my parents.
02:57She has nothing.
02:59He still has a family. He has his cousins.
03:01He has his business which is flourishing.
03:02So, I don't think it's a happy ending.
03:05I don't think it's a sad ending.
03:07It's interesting that we have to say that women are less.
03:12Because I felt that the hero's wife has a lot of rights in the film.
03:18And ultimately he has to leave her.
03:22So, he loses everything.
03:24This used to be enough.
03:26But it's no longer enough.
03:28I do think this film is extremely well made.
03:30I'm not surprised that it's been lapped up by audiences.
03:33Because it's very intelligently made.
03:36The craft is great.
03:38Performances, of course, music.
03:41The writing, in my opinion, has great shock value which really appeals to audiences.
03:47So, it is definitely really well made.
03:50I cannot take that away from the audiences.
03:53An intelligently made problematic film is what is more problematic.
03:58I take that.
04:03There was a story in this film.
04:05We wanted to show that story in a way.
04:09And there are many types of films in Hollywood.
04:13Tony Montana, Scarface, Godfather.
04:16We praise those films a lot.
04:18So, we wanted to make this film as a film.
04:21Chill. I think it will be great.
04:23Just chill.