Taapsee Pannu ANSWERS Why She Would Have Never Starred In Animal: 'With Power Comes Responsibility'

Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal might have earned a lot at the box office but the film stirred quite a controversy owing to its problematic themes and characters in the film. The Ranbir Kapoor starrer featured Rashmika Mandanna and Tripti Dimri as the leading ladies and left the cine-buffs divided. Amid this, Taapsee Pannu who recently headlined Rajkumar Hirani’s Dunki answered why she never would have done Animal.

Speaking with Raj Shamani on his YouTube channel, Taapsee Pannu shared her take on the film, “Lot of people told me too much about it (Animal). Look, I am not an extremist, so I agree to disagree to a lot of people… don’t compare it to Hollywood and say ‘If you liked Gone Girl, how can you not like Animal’? You are catering to a different audience. In Hollywood, people don’t start copying actors’ hairstyles from movies or using a film’s line in real life.”

She continued, “They also don’t start stalking women after seeing it in a movie. But all this happens in our country. This is our reality. You cannot compare our film industries with Hollywood and say ‘Why are these pseudos talking like this about Animal, when they can enjoy Gone Girl as an art Understand the difference.”

Explaining her reason behind why she wouldn’t have done Animal if it had come to her, Taapsee stated, “Keeping the reality (of society) in mind, I need to exercise my power because Bollywood or being a star and actor gives you that soft power. And with power comes responsibility. So it is my opinion, and I am not one of those, who will tell XYZ actors that they should not do these films. They have their own choice; we are in a free country and we have a freedom of choice. I wouldn’t do it (Animal) is what I am saying.”

Animal revolves around a man and his toxic relationship with his father. The film shows Vijay (played by Ranbir) as an anti-hero who would go to any lengths to protect his father, including gun down 200 people with machine gun. However, despite his efforts, he struggles to get a seal of approval from his emotionally unavailable father (played by Anil Kapoor).