Mansi Taxak Opens Up About On-Screen Controversies in 'Animal'

Ranbir Kapoor's 'Animal' has been a huge hit, making Rs. 850 crore worldwide. But the film has faced controversy over certain scenes. Mansi Taxak, who plays Bobby Deol's character's wife, spoke about these scenes. In movie her character faces difficult situations like being violated and threatened in the movie. Mansi, who knows about patriarchy from her own experiences, explained that while she can relate to some character perspectives, she separates her personal beliefs from her on-screen roles.

In an interview, Mansi discussed a post-credits scene in 'Animal' where her character's deceased husband's brother, Aziz, declares her as his new wife after undergoing surgery to resemble Ranbir Kapoor's character. When it was brought up that her character didn't explicitly give consent, Mansi laughed and mentioned, "Yes, I feel the same. In a way, he was threatening me while asking for my consent. It’s very difficult to turn someone like Aziz down, especially if you see the mood, he’s in. He’s just killed someone, and he’s holding a knife. Forget my character, even I would have said yes in that moment. But given the character dynamics, for sure, Aziz is a strong-headed person, but he has certain lines that he maintains. It was a threat, yes, but he was also asking me, and he got the answer he wanted.”

Mansi also discussed about the scene where Ranvijay asks Zoya to lick his shoe, saying she would have walked out if she were in Zoya's position. But Zoya had her reasons for staying. Mansi doesn't support it because she's very opinionated, but as actors, they can't judge characters. The director said the shoe licking scene never happened because Ranvijay doesn't go through with it. He said it was a test.

While talking about the masculinity shown in movie she said, “I don’t support toxic masculinity. Growing up in Haryana, I saw how patriarchy can affect women. Toxicity in any form isn’t something you should have in you as a person… Things have changed now, but 10 years ago, if I’d done a movie like Animal, I would’ve attracted a lot of backlashes from my community. I’ve seen it all. Women are suppressed in society, and there’s a lot of work left to do to get them on an equal footing with men. Equality is a basic right.”