Trigger Warning: Mentions Rape, Violence
The Animal Trend
Right from the day of its release, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal has been the centrepiece of social media discussions, news debates, and Twitter wars, and also made it to the list of things that were discussed in the Indian Parliament. Though the film has been called out for its misogyny, disturbing scenes of domestic abuse, and violence, it ended up as one of the biggest commercial successes in 2023.
Why? Simply put, a humongous fraction of the Indian audience liked the film. One of the primary reasons behind the liking is how the film seems to be a tight slap on the faces of feminists, woke liberals, women, and everyone who advocates for socially conscious content.
It’s basic human psychology, isn’t it? Humans love anyone and anything that bashes someone or something they dislike. If you make a film or tell a story that’ll irk women, feminists, activists, or a specific political party or agenda, it will satisfy the egos of a section of the audience- ultimately giving the film a hit talk. What’s disturbing is that this “section of the audience” is quite large. In fact, gigantic. But it wasn’t Vanga alone who was smart enough to monetise this.
#Baby
A Telugu film named ‘Baby’ was released on 14th July 2023. The film featured Anand Devarakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya in the lead roles. Made with a budget of 10 crore, the film collected (est.) 80.1 crore at the box office worldwide, making it a huge commercial success.
Long story short- the film is about a small-town girl (Vaishnavi) who falls in love with her classmate (Anand). The former goes to a top-class Engineering College in the city while the latter ends up as an auto driver. Vaishnavi tries to fit in with the elite crowd in the college by having a makeover and putting on Western clothes.
This irks Anand and ignites his abusive attitude. What follows later is a whirlpool story- Vaishnavi gets intimate with another guy (Viraj) while drunk, gets blackmailed, gets confronted by Anand and Viraj, attempts suicide, Anand slips into depression, and Vaishnavi ends up marrying a different guy. The moral of the story- Girls use boys, and all girls are cheaters.
The makers of this film have very cleverly developed and executed the story and screenplay of this movie, in which they show how ONE woman ended up making THREE men her victims. The first is her teenage crush and first love who pawns his auto to buy her a phone, the second is her classmate who is kept in the dark about her relationship status but with whom she ends up sleeping, and the third is the man who ends up as her husband. The story has been very conveniently told to portray a specific narrative- men are victims of women.
How ‘Problematic’ Became ‘Entertaining’
This is a story that attacks women. This is a story which seemingly adds voice to the silent suffering that men experience. This is a story which justifies the abusive, dominating, and possessive nature of men under the disguise of love. And this was a story in which scenes that should have been rather disturbing, ended up getting claps and whistles in the theatre hall. Here are some:
#1. The ‘You Look Like A S…’ Scene:
There’s a scene where Anand sees Vaishnavi in makeup and glamorous clothes. What follows is a dialogue that addresses her with filthy disgusting abuse- the Telugu equivalent of ‘slut’. Yes of course it was beeped, but it did not escape the audience. They knew what he was calling her, and they clapped for it. Some of the men yelled out the word in the theatre, repeatedly, just for the sheer pleasure of abusing a woman. This scene was made into reels and circulated widely on social media, and you can now guess what the comments would have looked like.
#2. The Kiss Scene-
Vaishnavi kisses Viraj while in a drunken state, and so begins the adulterous ‘love triangle’ of the movie. The audience hurled quite some abuses at the female lead in the theatre during this scene, but little did they think about what drove a small-town girl to drink beyond control, and why the man instead of stopping her took advantage of her drunken state and eventually ended up blackmailing her for it. There was a different (uncomfortable) scene when he mentioned this kiss, which was censored for the theatre audience but made it to OTT, and then onto social media. Needless to say about the reception it got.
#3. The Sex Scene-
Vaishnavi tries to explain to Viraj that she was drunk when the kiss happened and she isn’t interested in him. Ultimately, she agrees to sleep with him to get him off her back. What were the writers thinking? There’s no logic in it, right? Anyways, the sex scene happens- the solid groundwork for the sluttification of the female character. What goes unnoticed here is that when we talk about consent for sex, it’s not just the ‘yes’ that matters but also the ‘will’. How willing was the woman? And if she wasn’t, isn’t it still rape? So, was that really a sex scene?
The REAL Moral Of The Story
Nobody is questioning whether infidelity is wrong. We all know that it is wrong, despite the gender of the person doing it. But that’s not the topic of discussion here. In fact, infidelity was never the plot line of this film. The ultimate goal of this film was to show men as victims, and women as cheaters. Or sluts. And the makers did a pretty good job because they got what they wanted. They so very conveniently added the infidelity element to the story to attract the male audience, especially those in their early twenties. The film satisfied their egos, told ‘their’ story, and generalised how women behave in a relationship.
But, if we look closely and deeply, this story sidelines everything that would bring out the real victim- the woman. Small-town women, especially those from marginalised communities, face triple jeopardy- from men who belong to the same community, from elite men, and from elite women. All these three factors were present in the film, but somehow the small-town girl was blamed for everything.
Classism, casteism, the pressure to fit in, the desire to explore a new world in the city, the want to look good and stylish, and the ambition to get a better education- all of these played a role in Vaishnavi’s life. How many of us haven’t tried to class-pass or caste-pass while in college? From changing our clothes to our English accent, how many of us haven’t tried to fit in? Writing a story that demoralises that and makes people who do that look like villains is nothing short of BAD ART. Trying to tell the audience that choosing better education in a city will lead to “spoilt” behaviour, that loyalty means tolerating an abusive and dominating partner, and that giving into stalking and blackmailing is adulterous- what do we call such films? Dirty?
Verbal abuse was disguised as confrontation, rape was disguised as sex, and driving a woman to the point of suicide was disguised as a ‘sympathy-seeking’ act. When the audience walked out of the theatre hall- they felt proud that they watched a good film. YouTube reviews showed men screaming that women(actually, sluts) like Vaishnavi should be killed, that someone heard the plight of men, and that parents should stop sending girls to fancy colleges. Like I said, it was never about infidelity.
Let me conclude by saying this- during December last year, a minor girl from a small town in Odisha who was working as a maid in Vizag was gang raped by 10 men for days. On January 2nd, a tribal girl in Vizag’s vicinity was raped and killed in her home. She was buried hastily by her parents because they thought it was suicide. These are the stories of our small-town girls. These are the stories that need to be told on the big screen and made commercially viable. Generalising isolated incidents to promote problematic narratives is the new norm because it’s the best way to make a film that will ultimately make some money, isn’t it? Baby did it. Vanga did it thrice. And this trend doesn’t seem to stop. And, it’s sad.