Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga has opened up about the harsh criticism his latest blockbuster Animal received. Sandeep shared thoughts about critics' selective criticism towards his film, and claimed that he's been targeted by a gang of critics including Anupama Chopra, Sucharita Tyagi, and Rajeev Masand, who are 'illiterates having zero knowledge' of film reviews.
Soon after Ranbir Kapoor-starrer was released, it received criticism over 'misogynistic' portrayals of characters. Even a few sequences such as Ranbir's 'Lick my shoe' were slammed by critics. While speaking to Connect FM Cannada, Sandeep said that critics are making money from slamming his film. "Ek banda apne balcony se chila ka 50 logon ko bolega ki 'Animal mat dekhna, pagal film hai', I would appreciate him, as he's not earning anything from that. But yeh log YouTube pe videos banate hai na. Inn logo ko paisa bhi aata hai uss mein se. So you're making money, fame, name, everything by criticising my film, then go ahead. That's what happened with most of the critics during Kabir Singh. Their shot to fame was criticising Kabir Singh."
Sandeep further said that he feels targeted by the reviewers, and there is a gang of critics, who like a certain kind of cinema, and they appreciate certain filmmakers' movies only. "What I see is that there is a clear hatred towards a filmmaker than a film." Sandeep agreed that from Kabir Singh, the criticism has multiplied in Animal, and it will further increase during the release of his Prabhas-starrer Spirit, but the director is unaffected by the critics. "Fark nahi padta, kyuki lakhon logo ko pasand aa rahi hai."
Talking about the criticism the 'Lick my shoe' sequence has received, Sandeep said, "Woh toh hua hi nahi hai. Jo hua nahi woh kyu bata rahe ho." Sandeep added that the film reviewers are selectively critical of his film. "It's out of their capacity, I have seen other reviews also. The way they talk, they should go to China to teach English. Because they come up with new English words in every other video review. Other than that you won't find anything else. Even in Kabir Singh, they were selective (in criticising) that Kabir (Shahid Kapoor) slapped, they didn't mention that Preeti (Kiara Advani) was the first person to slap."
Slamming the critics, Sandeep said, "How can you say that 'it's torture for 3.5 hours', such a shameful thing to say that." The director added that the harsh review has impacted little on the collections. Sandeep went on to call a few film reviewers such as Anupama, Sucharita, and Rajeev 'illiterate', "Nobody speaks about the craft, the editing, sound design, because they are literally illiterate, uneducated when it comes to films. They have no sense of how to criticise the film or review the film." Sandeep's latest film Animal has earned more than 800 crores worldwide. His upcoming directorials includes Prabhas' Spirit, and Allu Arjun's untitled film.
