Mahesh Bhatt opens up about son-in-law Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal being criticised, says movie business is a ‘blood sport’

He added that those at the receiving end of such criticism have chosen that life. “That’s why the world has very few performers and most of the people are spectators. The world ultimately belongs to the creators, not to the ones who are just sitting out there and throwing brickbats at a good performer. It takes another kind of audacity to be a performer,” he said.

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Previously, Ranbir, in a chat with Nikhil Kamath on his YouTube channel, spoke about Animal’s criticism and said, “Social media played havoc. They need something to talk about, so they really went to town claiming it was a misogynistic film. What happens is that the hard work that you put in… I know the director had made Kabir Singh, which also faced the same thing, the hard work gets diminished. Because it gets this tag, which isn’t true, the perception stayed with this film.”

In an earlier conversation with Anubhav Singh Bassi on Netflix India’s YouTube channel, Ranbir had asserted that Animal started a “healthy conversation” about “toxic masculinity.” He said, “There is a very healthy conversation that has started about toxic masculinity also, which is a great thing because cinema, at least, it starts a conversation. If something is wrong, if you don’t show that it is wrong, and unless conversation starts in the society, we will never realise it.”

Animal emerged as the third-biggest Indian hit of 2023, behind Jawan and Pathaan. It made more than Rs 900 crore worldwide.