Siddhant Karnick is pleased with the way 2023 has turned out for him as an actor. First, he had a hit in the OTT space with Made in Heaven 2, and now, he’s earning praise for his portrayal of Varun Pratap Malhotra, brother-in-law to Ranbir Kapoor’s Ranvijay Singh in the latest blockbuster, Animal. While he is amused to be called the ‘jijaji one should never have’, he is thrilled to be told, ‘I hated you, but you were so good’. He enthuses, “These are the best kinds of compliments an actor can get.”
Nearly three weeks since its December release, the Sandeep Reddy Vanga-directed action drama continues to polarise audiences even as it daily rakes in crores at the box office. Countering the oft-repeated notion that the film glorifies toxic masculinity, Siddhant says, “More than that, I feel the film has put across a dark character in a very stylised format. In no way are we indicating that there is glory in being a dark character, nor are we suggesting that people should be like Ranvijay. Since Animal is a stylised film, all traits including the darkness of the protagonist are stylised in keeping with the treatment of the narrative.”
Asserting that the film is not meant to convey any social message or serve as an awareness campaign on how human beings should be or how an individual should behave in a relationship, Siddhant wonders, “I don’t know why we are looking at Animal as anything other than a film telling a story with these myriad characters. What Ranbir essays as Ranvijay or what I play as Varun are just fictional, in a film made with the idea of entertaining cine-goers.”
Addressing the allegations that the movie promotes misogyny through its alpha male protagonist, Siddhant points out that’s what the character of Ranvijay is supposed to be. “I believe that is how the character was conceptualised. Whether he is toxic or not depends on how you perceive him. I see him as an entertaining character. To say that the film could trigger people to behave in a certain way is wrong because that depends on their (the people’s) conditioning. Society, on its part, has its own ways and triggers, and all kinds of people.”
Like most actors, Siddhant, too, didn’t expect Animal to become this mammoth blockbuster that would trounce a Hollywood film like Napoleon to become the number one film globally. “That’s quite something. We dream of it, but when it actually happens, you’re not prepared for it and it takes a while for that feeling to sink in,” he says. The actor credits his director for the film’s success, saying, “There is a certain intensity in Sandeep sir, that I absolutely love and I’m inspired by at the same time.”
Interestingly, when the filmmaker began the narration by mentioning that the actor would be playing the hero’s jijaji, Siddhant admits being a little anxious, considering how the character has been conceived and treated in Hindi cinema over the years. “When Sandeep sir told me about this critical scene, he completely broke it down in shot divisions — from detailing about camera angles to playing the background score that would actually accompany that scene — I was sold,” says the actor. He adds, “So it has not only been a wonderful experience working with a director with that kind of vision and clarity, but also a very learning and enriching one for me as an actor.”
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