Anurag Kashyap recently shared his admiration for Sandeep Reddy Vanga and his 2023 film, Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor. In a conversation on his daughter Aaliyah Kashyap’s podcast, Young, Dumb & Anxious, he addressed his support for the film, which has been both celebrated and criticized. Aaliyah expressed her disappointment, calling Animal a ‘horrible’ and ‘misogynistic’ film, to which Anurag responded with a nuanced perspective.
Kashyap explained his appreciation for Vanga after a long conversation with the filmmaker. “I met him (Sandeep Reddy Vanga) and I liked him. I like the guy. I’ve had questions of my own and I wanted to talk to him about his film (Animal) and I invited him, and I had a long five-hour conversation and I like the guy… I always believe in talking to people. I was cancelled after Dev D (2009) by a lot of people for making a ‘misogynistic’ film… I have often seen people isolating someone, attacking someone and that is not the way to be,” he said
Highlighting the film’s impact on the industry, Kashyap said, “This man (Sandeep), what you see is what he is. People may like Animal, they may not like Animal, but Animal is a major tectonic shift in the way films will be made. People will realize its impact in 5-10 years from now. Post Animal, every action movie looks fake. When you see, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (Starring Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff), all those flips and fighting, it all looks fake because somehow the action in that film (Animal) and the use of music in that film had an impact, the technical details in the film had an impact on the audience. That will forever impact cinema.”
In January 2024, Kashyap shared photos on Instagram of his meeting with Vanga, describing him as “the most misunderstood, judged and reviled filmmaker at the moment” and praised his honesty and vulnerability. Kashyap noted that Vanga was open to discussing criticisms of his film, writing, “This is a person you can actually confront and talk to. Please talk to him about the problems you have with the film… The biggest game changer of Hindi cinema in the longest time and a film whose impact (good or bad), can’t be denied. And the filmmaker who takes it all on his chin. Great evening spent with him.”
