Rashimka Mandanna defends Sandeep Reddy Vanga amidst 'Animal' row: 'He enjoys making films'

While many B-town personalities have voiced their opinions against the vision of Sandeep Reddy Vanga amid the ongoing debate around 'Animal', his leading lady, Rashmika Mandanna, has defended him over the backlash. Rashmika opened up about working with the controversial director and said that he 'functions differently' from others. The actor, who featured as Geetanjali in the Ranbir Kapoor starrer, said that SRV 'enjoys making films' and he is most definitely going a notch higher for the upcoming sequel, 'Animal Park'.

'Animal', also starring Anil Kapoor and Bobby Deol in pivotal roles, went on to be a commercial success; however, the film has faced severe criticism by a faction of netizens for its overt portrayal of toxicity and violence. While Animal is the first film in a while to face this kind of non-political bashing in recent years, Sandeep Reddy Vanga has had a repo for igniting such debates with his films.' The Ranbir Kapoor starrer has also attracted backlash from a number of film personalities, including Javed Akhtar and Trisha Krishnan. Recently, Konkona Sensharma had also confessed to not being 'drawn' to the SRV directorial.

Rashmika, while defending SRV's work, told Pinkvilla, “That man just functions differently. I don’t know how he thinks, what he eats, or what he does. But with Animal, you saw, ‘Oh, this is what the audience likes; this is what we like showing the audience; this is the story that we want to maintain’. Now, we have the whole universe. We can play around with whatever we want at Animal Park. So, it’s exciting. And the things that he told me... He’s like, ‘Man, I am going to have a blast in Animal Park,’ and he is that man who enjoys making films.”

Vanga is not the one to hold back, and he has been reacting to his detractors on social media. Rashmika, explaining the same, said that the filmmaker is not the one who'd change himself to pander to the masses. "He’s just like, ‘This is the story I want to tell,’ and he sticks by it. He doesn’t change according to what people want him to change. So, I love that. I think that man should be protected, and he has to be like that for the rest of his life,” she said.

'Animal' is Sandeep Reddy Vanga's second concept film. He has previously helmed the Telugu film 'Arjun Reddy' and its Hindi adaptation, 'Kabir Singh'.

Also read: Rashmika Mandanna opens up about slapping Ranbir Kapoor in ‘Animal’: ‘I was crying for real…’