‘Animal’ director justifies portrayal of ‘savage’ Muslim villain with absurd logic

The persistent stereotyping of Muslims in Bollywood films as savage terrorists with peculiar appearances repulses Muslim fans of Indian movies, who find the depictions distasteful.

The creators of ‘Animal’  couldn't resist portraying Muslims negatively, seemingly to gain validation in an increasingly polarised India.

The Ranbir Kapoor and Bobby Deol starrer ‘Animal’ surged to popularity for all the wrong reasons. Apart from facing criticism for glorifying toxic masculinity and plagiarising an Iranian song, the director, Sandeep Reddy Vanga, introduced an absurd logic for portraying a savage villain as 'Muslim.'

In a recent interview, the Bollywood director stated that he depicted the savage villain in the film as a Muslim, despite belonging to a Sikh family, citing, "we see people convert to Islam, but nobody converts to Hinduism."

In 'Animal,' Bobby Deol portrays a villain whose family is originally Sikh, but his maternal grandfather converts to Islam, resulting in Bobby Deol's character being portrayed as a Muslim.

While all other characters in the film are portrayed as Sikhs and Hindus, the villain is later revealed to be a Muslim, sparking criticism of the film.

However, the film's director has now provided an explanation, asserting that the portrayal of the Muslim villain in the film was 'not meant to show Muslims in a negative light.'

According to the Indian meida, director Reddy Wanga, in an interview, justified Bobby Deol's character being portrayed as a Muslim by stating, "because he had to be shown as a husband of more than one wife."

Reddy Vanga also presented another rationale, suggesting that in India, many people convert to Islam after experiencing mental health challenges or other issues, while some choose to convert to Christianity “but nobody converts to Hinduism.” 

"We see a lot of people converting to Islam and Christianity; we never see anybody converting to Hinduism. So, I thought I'll use this, because you can get multiple wives in Islam."

It's worth noting that in the film, Bobby Deol's character has three wives and is portrayed as a ruthless villain who engages in sexual assault against them.

The portrayal of a Muslim as a savage villain by the makers of 'Animal' also faced criticism on social media.