Sargun Mehta defends Sandeep Reddy Vanga on misogyny in ‘Animal’

Filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s latest project, ‘Animal’, featured Ranbir Kapoor’s character Ranvijay seeking assistance from his cousins in Punjab to confront his enemies. Recently, actor Sargun Mehta, who predominantly works in the Punjabi film industry, took notice of Vanga’s depiction of Sikh characters in the film and praised his attention to detail. In a new interview, Sargun commended the filmmaker for his portrayal of Punjabi characters, highlighting their dignified killing in the film.

Speaking to Siddharth Kannan about ‘Animal’, Sargun said, “The moment I stepped out of ‘Animal’, I said, ‘Sandeep didn’t kill any of the Punjabi guys with their heads bowed and their eyes lowered’. This is Sandeep’s specialty. You would have noticed that whenever a Sardar was shot in the film, they were standing tall with their chests puffed up. The bullets didn’t hit the man from the back or in the head, but they were hit right at the chest.”

“Even in the last shot that he had of the ‘Animal Park’, the last Sardar who gets killed, he looks straight into the eyes of the guy who is about to kill him. There is no fear in his eyes. So, Sandeep knew that the guys who were singing ‘Arjan Vailly’ were talking about valour. He can’t kill these men just like that. He has done his research. He hasn’t just made a film that made Rs 1000 crore. He didn’t leave anything. It was so well done,” he added.

Sargun also shared her take on the film’s misogynistic tone. She said, “People often say, ‘What will your film teach us?’ Now we have to decide whether all the lessons have to be learned only through films and if this is the case, let’s shut down schools. The idea of cinema is to show what exists in some part of this world. There is somebody like the character of ‘Animal’ in our world also.”

She added, “I feel that Sandeep pulled me into his world, saying, ‘This is a man who is doing all these things’ and I found Ranbir’s character wrong also. Sandeep didn’t whitewash his mistakes. But I also saw the character who was so flawed that he got up despite making so many mistakes. He is like that. He is that passionate. I also can’t hear anything wrong being said to women. I have slapped so many men. I know when to raise my hand and when not. But equality isn’t what I speak about it is everywhere. Some things are for entertainment and I saw it like that.”