Producer Guneet Monga Kapoor said recently in an interview that she didn’t like the misogynistic portrayal of women in Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s Animal. She said that she found it difficult to see ‘women’s bodies being objectified’ in the film. In comparison, she defended the violence in the film, Kill, which was produced by her and said that they didn’t want to glorify it.
During a conversation with Faye D’Souza on YouTube, Guneet shared her experience of watching Animal and said, “It is a theatrical experience. I was jaw-dropped. The action scenes and everything are obviously beautifully shot, with great music and everything. It's a different style of filmmaking. I'd not agree with the choice of story because, yes, misogyny was… it was very difficult to see women's bodies being constantly objectified.”
She added, “It's a choice, how you choose to tell the story. I believe to each their own. Animal came and did really, really well. People enjoyed it, and I admit I watched it in cinemas and it was a theatrical experience. I dislike the misogyny of it. I like the action sequences of Animal.”
Speaking about the violent scenes in Kill, Guneet said, “There was a lot of conversation on how we look at violence, how we treat violence, and how women are shown in the film. I'd say more power to our director, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, who was always on board. All his films, even with Apurva (2023) if you see, how the women are shot, how you choose to show bodies in a certain way. We are focusing on the craft.”
She added, “There was a very beautiful review that said, ‘Kill is a film that loves and hates its action in equal measure.' The intention was that yes, we come in the extreme violence genre, but in the end, those lines were blurred. There's actually a dialogue in the end: ‘Tu rakshak nahi raakshash hai (You are a monster, not a saviour),’ which is a lens back to ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’ So, we didn't glorify any of the blood scenes. There was no slow-motion of blood, there was no celebration of violence.”
Kill stars Lakshya, Raghav Juyal, Tanya Maniktala and Ashish Vidyarthi in pivotal roles. It is co-produced by Guneet’s Sikhya Entertainment and Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions and was released in theatres on July 5 last year.
