Animal - Subtext

 

This movie has been quite controversial because of glorification of toxic masculinity and for being regressive towards women.

But, what if I tell you that the actual vision of Director Vanga was something else...!!!

The below piece of work is purely based on my observation after watching the movie Animal. It's a lengthy one, hope you will read it!

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The actual story, characters and incidents were based on India - Pak conflicts and Indian patriotism. 

It was shown in the movie using different symbolism which is evident throughout the movie. Let's dive deep into this.

Balbir's family

Balbir's father had two more brothers, one of them were sacked from the business empire as he used to betray the company. That brother became muslim after being left from the family business. It denotes  Pakistan, who formed a Muslim country after splitting from India. That muslim brother also stands for Jinna who left Indian National Congress to form his party, and then splitted from India to create a new country. In this movie, Balbir says his brother returned asking for share in the business, which he refused. It denotes Pakistan's demand for Kashmir, which India always refused. Balbir progressed whereas Abrar's family becomes notorious and always had the bad name for supporting terrorism. Similar to how India and Pakistan stands in the world politics.

This movie also shows Abrar's dysfunctional family, with Abrar himself having multiple wives. The male characters were shown as bad men behaving badly with women. It means Pakistan's dysfunctional political and government system and attitude towards people. Abrar and his brothers are financially well and powerful. although all is not well in family. Abrar stands for Pakistan's elite military who plays major role in Pakistan's politics, although economy is bad for common people.

Rannvijay - Balbir relation

Rannvijay is son, means new. Father is aged, means old. Rannvijay is always critical of father as he believes that father never stood for him or his sister whenever needed. 

Here Ranvijay Vijay stands for extreme right wing ideology and father stands for secular ideology. Ranvijay's sister stands for Sanatan Dharma which Right wing ideology believes that Secularism always ignored. Hence, Rannvijay had to take power in hand to ensure preservation of Sanatan Dharma. You can see how Rannvijay acts when someone insulted his sister!

There were many scenes where Balbir regrets for not caring for son and daughter and helds himself responsible for how Rannvjay grew up with violent nature.

Rannvijay's war against Abrar

It simply denotes Indian defence force reacting against Pakistan's terrorism. It could be two wars fought against Pakistan, or maybe recent attacks happened in the border, like Pathankot. The speech given by Rannvijay in factory promising to demolish them, who attacked his father. Here his father denotes nation and Rannvijay is country's premier. Ghar mein ghuske maarenge moments!

You can see Rannvijay going back to villege to meet his ancestor family. Here Rannvijay stands for Hinduism which believes all Sikh, Buddha and Jains are one system called Hinduism. He tries to unite everyone to fight for nation. Rannvijay also believes that Balbir cannot protect himself, hence he has to go back to the roots. Sikhs were also considered to be playing crucial role in defence and had a legacy in the wars which India fought. 

Rannvijay's revenge for sister

In the movie, Rannvijay kills brother in law for joining hands with enemy - Abrar, who wants to demolish Balbir's family. Here, sister stands for Kashmir and brother in law stands for separatists who favours Pakistan and stood against India. In another sense, the murder of brother in law also denotes abolishment of Art 370 in Kashmir. 

Rannvijay - Zoya

Rannvijay - Zoya segment shows brilliance of Indian secret service. Zoya acts as a spy, but Rannvijay manages to find it and neutralize the mission. It shows power of RAW over ISI. Later, Rannvijay let Zoya leave, which shows how India's respectful attitude towards spies who were caught during their mission.

Rannvijay - Geetanjali

Rannvijay, a Sikh and Geetanjali a Brahmin. This marriage means both are meant to be together as they are part of one Hindu family. After the attack on Balbir ( here means secular ideology), Rannvijay (right wing ideology ) takes charge of his family to protect him and his family members. You can see him dominating every member including his wife.  His conversations with him proves whatever he does is for the well being of family, even though he cheats his wife. This stands for  right wing ideology and their attitude in the society of being protector of traditions and being patriotic.

In the movie, you can see how Vanga see different religions. According to him Sikhs can accept Hindus. When Rannvijay suffers from some diseases, he attends yagnas with utmost respect. But when Balbir (secularism) takes Rannvijay (sanatani) to a church, Rannvijay behaves badly (listening audio tracks of his private moments with wife). Rannvijay also believes the father at church cannot distinguish swastika an d nazi symbol. He can be seen saying Swastika is ' straight' Nazi symbol isn't. Church father was shown in bad light, just like how all muslim characters were shown in the movie..

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There is absolutely no sense of making Balbir Singh's family members converting into Islam, showing them having many wives, portraying them in extremely bad light. The church and father were shown like ignorant people who can't distinguish swastika and nazi symbols. These elements doesn't add value to the story. Abrar Haque could have been Amarinder Singh. Still, the story would have worked. The church portion and Swastika dialogues were avoidable. 

But Vanga intentionally incorporated these with Animal. And guess, this highly toxic masculinity, regressive, jingoist concept was well received by extreme right wing audiences. Vaanga, in past made statements in favour of right wing ideology. There is no surprise, he used metaphors to cunningly tell his politics through a movie.