Triptii Dimri: I didn’t see Animal as an anti-feminist film

Triptii Dimri achieved fame but also received a lot of flak for playing the role of Zoya in Animal. Her “lick my shoe” scene with Ranbir Kapoor was subject to a lot of debates and discussions. Till the part in Animal, Triptii was known for women-centric films like Qala (2022) and Bulbbul (2020). Now, in a new interview, the actor opened up about why he went to do a role in Animal and why she thinks the Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial wasn’t an “anti-feminist” film.

“I didn’t look at it as an anti-feminist film. I don’t give such tags to films. Even while doing Bulbbul and Qala, I never thought I was doing a feminist film. I connected with the characters, had faith in the directors and felt I should do it,” she told Filmfare.

She added, “Even when Animal was offered to me, I met Sandeep sir and he didn’t tell me much about the story, he explained my character. To me, what was exciting was that I have only done goody and nice person roles – who get sympathy at the end – till now, and I felt this was a nice space to be in where I do this character.”

Triptii played Zoya in the film, who is placed as a mole in Ranbir’s character Ranvijay’s life. She recalled Sandeep telling her about her character and said, “He told me something very interesting. He wanted to see innocence and kindness in my eyes but inside I should have that mission in my heart, that I want to accomplish. How do I get there, that was my job. I found it challenging and interesting, that’s what made me say yes,” she said.

“And of course, everybody wants to do a big film. Till that time, I was an actor who had done Bulbbul, Qala, and all the films that were being offered, were only those types of movies. I would have loved to do such films and I would love to continue doing those. However, at that time, getting a big film was a big deal for me. Maybe, I’ll get to learn something new and I’ll also get to see how big films are made,” she added.

Triptii will next be seen in Dhadak 2 with Siddhant Chaturvedi. She also has a film with Shahid Kapoor, to be helmed by Vishal Bhardwaj, in the pipeline.