‘Animal’ review: Hard to stomach – but equally hard to ignore

In Scarface, Tony Montana wanted to rule the world. Tony also wanted you to say hello to his “little friend”. Ranvijay Singh wants to impress his daddy. He also wants you to know that his friend isn’t little at all.

Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal lays out its phallocentrism in its very first scene, which revolves around an off-colour joke about the things that men do because only they can. Animal is stacked with references to Ranvijay’s prowess both in the bedroom and the battlefield.

The director has never met a smart idea that he couldn’t flog until it fell apart. One of Animal’s set-pieces involves is a gazillion-barrel gun wielded by Ranvijay with the glee of the sexually precocious schoolboy.

Blame it all on daddy: Ranvijay (Ranbir Kapoor), better known as Vijay, is so starved of the affections of his father Balbir that he spends his whole life desperately trying to compensate. He is possessive of family ties and his wife Geetanjali (Rashmika Mandanna), has a propensity to take bazookas to knife-fights and is unable to listen to reason. When Balbir is targeted by his rivals Asrar (Babloo Prithveeraj) and Asrar’s brother Abrar (Bobby Deol), Vijay predictably goes thermonuclear.

To a wafer-thin plot, Vanga brings his alarmingly intimate understanding of the...

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