Sandeep Reddy Vanga Vs Aamir Khan & Kiran Rao: The Biggest Controversy Around Animal Film Explained

Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s recent attack on Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao has grabbed everyone’s attention. While the Animal director lashed out at the superstar and his former wife in a recent interview, the controversy has also left many wondering what Kiran Rao said in the past. Here’s everything about the controversy you need to know:

• When Kiran Rao Accused Kabir Singh of Glorifying StalkingIn November 2023, Kiran Rao was discussing the glorification of stalking in Bollywood films as a means of wooing women when she named Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani starrer Kabir Singh. She also cited SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali to explain her perspective and added, “Another very big film, which I find fascinating, was Baahubali 1 (Baahubali: The Beginning). It started off with this exciting fight sequence, where this woman is leaping from tree to tree, and she is a warrior. But the hero delicately strips her of her agency and makes her just a fantastic romantic interest. I find it fascinating. It is (one of) the biggest films of Indian cinema.”
• Sandeep Reddy Vanga Reacts To Kiran Rao’s Criticism In a recent interview with Dainik Bhaskar, Sandeep Reddy Vanga addressed Kiran Rao’s criticism without naming her. He lashed out at Rao and argued that she did not know the difference between stalking and approaching. “My AD showed me an article. It is of the second ex-wife of a superstar. She is saying that films like Bahubaali 2 and Kabir Singh promote misogyny and stalking. I think she does not know the difference between stalking and approaching. When people read these things out of context, they tend to agree. This is entirely wrong,” Vanga said.
• Sandeep Reddy Vanga Drags Aamir Khan, Reminds Kiran Rao of ‘Dil’In the same interview, the Animal director also dragged Aamir Khan. Vanga argued that in Khan’s 1990 film Dil, a character threatened another with rape, but the story depicted them eventually falling in love. “I would like to say to that woman, ‘Go ask Aamir Khan, ‘Is she like a pillar, a girl, or a firecracker?’ What was that?” Then come back to me. If you remember Dil, he almost takes the situation to an attempted rape, and it makes her realise that she was wrong. And she falls in love. What is all this? I don’t know why they attack like that before checking the surroundings,” he said.
• Kiran Rao Denies Commenting On Vanga’s FilmsHowever, in another recent interview with The Quint, Kiran Rao denied commenting on Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s films and revealed that she has never really watched his movies. “I have never commented on Mr Sandeep’s films because I have never seen them. I have often spoken on misogyny and the representation of women on screen. I have talked about it on various platforms at various times. But I have never taken the name of any film because it is not about the specific film. Why Mr Vanga has assumed that I was talking about his film you’ll have to ask him. I have never seen his film,” she said.
• Team Animal Gives Kiran Rao a Fact CheckAfter Kiran Rao claimed she never talked about Vanga’s films, team Animal decided to give her a fact check. Recently, team Animal took to its official X handle and shared a link of an article which reported that Kiran cited Sandeep’s film Kabir Singh in one of her sessions while talking about the state of films in Bollywood that glorify stalking as a form of wooing a woman. Sharing the article link, the team of Animal wrote: “Neither we nor our director Mr. Sandeep Reddy Vanga are making any assumptions Miss @ikiranrao! It’s a fact reported by a very big media channel.”
• Aamir Khan’s Old Apology For ‘Dil’ Goes Viral Amid all this, an old video of Aamir Khan has surfaced on social media in which he was seen apologising for Dil and the Khambe Jaisi Khadi Hai song. “I am very ashamed,” Aamir had said in an interview with Aaj Tak when he also added, “Hindi films have not been responsible enough, especially the way we project men and women. When we show something wrong in the films, we also show that the result of it is something positive. Which is wrong. And we often make the women an ‘item’ in films. Even the songs are like ‘tu cheez badi hai mast mast’. And even I am involved in this and I have done such films. ‘khambe jaisi khadi hai, ladki hai ya chadi hai.’ We are calling women ‘khamba’ but not humans. I am very ashamed of it.”