Controversial Bollywood Film Gets Release Date on Netflix

One of 2023's most controversial Bollywood films is now streaming on Netflix. Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga's three-hour epic Animal, which became one of the top-grossing A-rated films of all time despite the controversy surrounding its portrayal of toxic masculinity and misogyny, made its way to the Netflix streaming library on Friday, Jan. 26. The streamer announced the film's arrival Thursday with a 30-second clip of the film's highlights.

The Indian Hindi-language action drama film debuted in theaters in December. Per the film's logline on Netflix, "the hardened son of a powerful industrialist returns home after years abroad and vows to take bloody revenge on those threatening his father's life." The movie was co-written by Sandeep Reddy, Reddy Vanga, and Saurabh Gupta, and stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Rashmika Mandanna, and Triptii Dimri.

Upon its release, Animal proved to be both extremely controversial and a box office hit. The movie was widely criticized for its misogynistic themes and glorification of toxic masculinity, with Collider writing that "Animal glorifies the violent tendencies of its protagonist without any remorse... the choices seem to have been made in the interest of the shock factor." The criticism is reflected in reviews for the movie, with Animal being certified rotten with a 31% critics score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. A critics consensus for the movie reads, "overlong, overly violent, and thinly written, Animal goes wildly over the top to little avail." The Guardian's Phuong Le wrote, "Ranbir Kapoor plays one of the vilest protagonists in cinema history."

It wasn't all bad news for Animal, though. The movie holds an 81% fresh rating among the audience on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience consensus reading, "Animal definitely isn't for family viewing, but its incredibly action-packed story helps the hefty runtime fly by." The movie also secured the title as the third-biggest Indian hit of 2023 when it grossed $108 million globally, placing it just behind Pathaan and Jawan. The movie also became the ninth-biggest Indian film of all time, the fifth-biggest Indian film of all time at the domestic box office, and the top-grossing A-rated film (India's equivalent to an R rating) of all time. Animal is now available to stream on Netflix.