Swanand criticises treatment of women in Animal: 'New man has been prepared for you'

Lyricist-singer-actor Swanand Kirkire, known for his work in Barfi, Parineeta, Three of Us, Qala and other films, has strongly criticised the recently released Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal over its treatment of women.

The singer-actor recently took to his X page to strongly condemn the film and the story treatment, which he feels is a stepping stone to a different breed of “scary men” that women will have to deal with.

Writing in Hindi, he began his post by mentioning older films which focused on women’s issues and helped him gain a better understanding of the opposite sex.

"Mehboob Khan’s Aurat, Guru Dutt’s Saheb Biwi Aur Ghulam, Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anupama, Shyam Benegal’s Ankur and Bhumika, Ketan Mehta’s Mirch Masala, Sudhir Mishra’s Main Zinda Hoon, Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish, (Vikas) Behl’s Queen, Sujit Sarkar's Piku etc, there are many such films in Indian cinema which taught me how to respect a woman, her rights and her autonomy and how, after understanding everything, there are still many shortcomings in this age-old thinking. I don’t know whether I succeeded in understanding a woman or not, but even today, I am constantly trying to improve myself."

He went on: "All thanks to cinema. But today, after watching the film Animal, I really felt pity for the women of today. Once again, a new man has been prepared for you, who is more scary, who does not respect you at all, and who aims to subdue you and suppress you, and he feels that it is his objective as a man to feel proud of doing these things."

He further shared that young women today were seated in movie theatres cheering at the treatment of Rashmika Mandanna’s character: “The girls of today’s generation were sitting in that cinema hall and applauding when Rashmika was being beaten. I, in my mind, paid homage to every idea of equality. I have come home. Desperate, dejected and weak.”

“About Ranbir’s lines in which he defines an alpha male and says men who are unable to become alpha become poets to attract women and start making promises of bringing the moon and stars to them — I am a poet. I write poetry for a living. Do I have a place? This film is making a lot of money and the glorious history of Indian cinema is being shamed," he added.

Animal, which stars Ranbir Kapoor in a double role, has set the cash registers ringing for exhibitors and distributors. While the film continues to mint money at the box-office, it has also been panned by a certain section of the audience and critics over its misogynistic themes, violence and incoherent writing, much like its director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's earlier offering Kabir Singh (2019).