It has been more than two months since the release of the second Bollywood directorial of Sandeep Reddy Vanga, ‘Animal.’ Despite the long passage of time, both the movie and its director remain in the headlines, largely for negative reasons.

Many audiences, critics as well as film personalities have come out and openly criticized the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer for its portrayal of toxic masculinity, extreme violence and misogyny. Javed Akhtar, Anupama Chopra, Kiran Rao, Kangana Ranaut, and many others have also called out Vanga for the way he showcases female characters in his films. Unaffected, the director is now responding to critics in various interviews.

During a recent conversation with Siddharth Kannan, the ‘Kabir Singh’ director talked about Kangana Ranaut. He mentioned, “If I get a chance and if I feel she will fit into it, I will go and narrate the story. I genuinely loved her performance in ‘Queen’ and so many other films. So, if she is giving a negative comment about ‘Animal,’ I don’t mind. I don’t get angry also because I have seen her work… I don’t feel bad.”

The actress, who is very vocal on social media about how she thinks and feels, took to her Instagram to take a satirical dig at the director. She posted (translated), “Review and condemnation are not the same; every kind of art should be reviewed and discussed – it is a normal thing. The way Sandeep Ji showed respect towards me by smiling at my review, it can be said that he not only makes manly films, but his attitude is also manly. Thank you, sir.”

She continued, “But please don’t ever give me any role; otherwise, your alpha male heroes will become feminists, and then your films will also be defeated. You make blockbusters; the film industry needs you.” 

The manner in which Sandeep Reddy Vanga will react to Kangana’s remarks is yet to be seen.