"Animal Wasn't An Anti-feminist Film At All," Says Tanishaa Mukerji; Also Opens Up About Lick My Boot Scene

Tanishaa Mukerji is a movie buff and never shies away from making her views public. Recently, Sandeep Reddy Vanga and Ranbir Kapoor's Animal divided the internet into two groups over reviews and opinions. The film also created many controversies over its anti-feminist and misogynist context.

Tanishaa Mukerji shared her opinion, saying, "Well, my take on Animal is that it wasn't an anti-feminist film at all. In fact, I truly feel that it was a film that endorses equality on many levels. For instance, when Ranbir's character tells his sister about speaking up after having done her education at the prestigious Harvard University, that's in a way motivating her to take over the business and use her mind and education for it. I thought that was absolutely brilliant."Also, the way Ranbir's character makes a small gesture by putting on the shoes for his wife Rashmika during their honeymoon is so interesting and heartwarming. How many men in India will actually bow down to their wives and do that? So, I thought it was beautiful, and the movie is pretty much in favour of feminism, and so is Ranbir's character. It was very realistic because, in certain instances, it actually made women understand their own hypocrisy better. For instance, when Ranbir tells Rashmika that you are fine with me killing people but you aren't fine with me cheating on you, Isn't that hypocrisy? What is worse? Murder or cheating? I thought it was a very well-written and beautifully done film. I loved every moment of Animal," she added.

Tanishaa continued, "I know a lot of women who perhaps won't see the movie, thinking it's anti-women. But I genuinely feel they need to see the movie because it's not anti-women by any means. We need to understand the psyche of men who have to take care of their entire family. We have to understand the psyche of men who have been brought up from childhood to be the responsible one. Ranbir says it so beautifully to Anil Kapoor who was going to protect my sister from being ragged and harassed when you were busy? The way he did it is certainly questionable but we have to understand the psyche. It comes from a sense of responsibility to be protective towards the entire family. I feel it was beautifully exaggerated in an entertaining way and I was totally blown away with the movie. I have praised Tarantino for creating Kill Bill and now, I feel I must praise Sandeep Reddy Vanga for creating Animal.""According to me, Animal was a very pro-feminist film thereby endorsing equality. It was a very important film because it made us think for ourselves, all thanks to the director. As a society, we have been doing certain things blindly and this movie was a beautiful way to reflect on that thought," Tanishaa was firm about it.

One of the scenes in Animal stirred a lot of controversies when Ranbir's character tells Triptii Dimri's character to lick his shoes. Speaking about that scene, Tanishaa Mukerji said, "The 'lick my boot' line has been taken completely out of context. According to me, the context was that when Tripti's character came to confess and tell him that she loves him, it was his way of testing whether Tripti was genuinely in love or not. In order to love, one needs to keep his or her ego aside. Licking someone else's shoe is the worst thing someone can agree with and that's why, when she is actually ready to do it, he doesn't let her do so because he realises that she indeed does love him. That's exactly why he let her go despite having killed everyone who's been against his father. That was the beauty of the subtext and that was my perception of the scene. I understand a lot of people have taken objection to these dialogues because we live in a society that's fighting a lot of battles against women. However, at the end of the day, there's a lot of things done in the name of art. I absolutely loved and enjoyed this movie and I am so glad it did wonders at the box office for everyone."