In a conversation with Zoom, Rashmika Mandanna shared what she thinks about the criticism and the backlash Ranbir’s character is receiving. She said that the audience is free to perceive Ranvijay the way they want to. She said, “Now audiences are perceiving it in different ways and it's up to them. And all of us should have an opinion. We are a free country, right? I may not be some people’s cup of tea, and it's all their own opinion. It doesn't matter to me. We wanted to tell a story and we said it. People like it, people don't like it. People love it. It's all on them.”

While she is open to how the audience perceives the character, she has defended the movie’s narrative and characters. She spoke more about Ranbir’s character and said how he does the wrong things to himself.

Rashmika Mandanna continued, “If you see Ranvijay's character, he extremely respects his wife, and his family. But at the same time, for whatever reason, he wishes to protect his father and he goes through any length and ends up becoming a villain himself. It's not like someone else is doing (these things) to him. He is doing all the bad things to himself. In that way, we're all stuck in this crossfire.”

‘Animal’ has gone on to collect over Rs 900 crores at the box office. The movie stars Ranbir Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, Anil Kapoor, and Shakti Kapoor in pivotal roles.