Problematic parent-child relationships in Bollywood are so common that they have become cliched, although Animal is currently receiving a lot of attention.
Animal, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s latest film, could have easily been a sequel to Kabir Singh, where the protagonist becomes rich and then loses his wife Preeti. However, instead of that, we are introduced to Ranvijay Singh Balbir, played by Ranbir Kapoor, whose father Balbir Singh is repeatedly referred to as India’s wealthiest and most influential man in the first half of the movie. Unfortunately, due to his busy schedule running a business empire across different time zones, he neglects his family. In Vanga’s world, this neglect leads to a psychological breakdown in his son, turning him into a misogynistic and violent killer. This serves as a warning to single parents and families with fathers who are separated from their children due to work obligations driven by financial reasons.
While dealing with the nausea I felt during the blood-soaked pre-interval sequence, I pondered three things. Firstly, is Balbir’s absence a bigger crime than his wife and extended family’s negligence of Ranvijay’s troubled behavior? Secondly, how long can we blame our parents or past for how we handle the present and future, despite carrying resentment, anger, or trauma from our childhood? Lastly, why does Bollywood struggle to portray parent-child relationships realistically? The animal was marketed as a father-son relationship rooted in blood, but it depicts a man using his strained relationship with his father to indulge in his psychopathic tendencies. Unfortunately, problematic parent-child relationships are not uncommon in cinema.
Some parents are problematic due to their aggressive behavior, while others are worrisome because they are too indulgent or kind until they are obeyed. In Barjatya land, all parents appear loving on paper, but their children never voice an opinion. Wake Up Sid was a great movie, but as a parent, I wonder why Anupam Kher and his wife never corrected their son until he failed in college. Over the years, we have evolved from unquestioning obedience to calling out parents and caregivers for their toxic traits. Films like 3 Idiots, Taare Zameen Par, Dear Zindagi, and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani attempt to break generational trauma. These movies not only show parents acknowledging their problematic behavior and making amends but also children voicing their unhappiness instead of suppressing their anger under the guise of respect.
However, unfortunately, Vanga prefers to disregard the years of effort put in by individuals from various professions to ensure that we do not undermine mental illness or view violence against women as a result of passion. He believes that it is perfectly acceptable for a man to comment on a woman’s suitability for childbearing, have an affair to serve his revenge, grab his wife’s throat when he is angry, or use love bites as a means to obtain the car he desires, as long as he loves his father and wants to take care of his family. In the world of cinema, people push boundaries by promoting inclusivity or experimenting with new technologies and narrative techniques. However, Vanga simply receives a larger budget and a bigger star and celebrates a type of masculinity that has made the world an unsafe place for us. This is reminiscent of Donald Trump, who normalized the beliefs of racists and white supremacists, or politicians who turn a blind eye to violence against minority communities. Vanga utilizes his films to convey to men that their primal instincts and violent tendencies are not wrong, as long as they can find someone to love for whom they can blame their behavior.
