Siddhant Karnick: ‘Animal puts a dark character in a stylised format’

In a candid chat, Siddhant Karnick opens up on the feedback he received after Animal’s release, backlash that the film received, and more

Actor Siddhant Karnick has had quite an eventful year, first with Made In Heaven and now, Animal. He played the evil brother-in-law to Ranbir Kapoor in Animal, and has caught the eyes of the audiences and critics alike with his performance in the blockbuster.

Now, in a candid chat with Free Press Journal, Siddhant reveals that he has been basking in all the love and appreciation ever since Animal hit the theatres. “I am being called ‘the jijaji one should never have’ and that’s kind of funny. People are saying, ‘I hated you, but you were so good’, and that is the best compliment an actor can get,” he gushes.

Animal released on December 1 and it sparked a massive debate amongst cine-goers, with the majority of population slamming the makers and calling the film misogynist. However, Siddhant opines that the fact that the film has managed to create a buzz is a huge success in itself.

“The more people talk about it, the better. It’s our job as storytellers to make people react and that can be in any way — good, bad or ugly — and that’s beyond my control. But the fact that people are talking about it and it is brewing conversations is successful enough for me,” he says.

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Reacting to the audience’s opinion that Animal glorified the dark and toxic character played by Ranbir, Siddhant explains, “I think more than glorifying, the film has put across a dark character in a very stylised format. We are not saying that there is glory in being dark and we are not asking people to be like the character. It is a stylised film and, therefore, even the darkness, along with the other traits of the character, are stylised and that’s just the genre of the film.”

When quizzed about the reaction of the women in his life after watching Animal, Siddhant quips, “I think somewhere along the line that cliché is true that women like the bad boys because I’ve been getting that extra smile every now and again before and after a conversation post Animal”.

The one thing that was common for Siddhant with both his projects this year — Made In Heaven and Animal — was his portrayal of negative characters, and he reveals that he wishes to do more of it in future.

“I enjoy playing a layered character, and to be honest, I have often seen that the good characters don’t have many shades to show, whereas the villainous ones are a lot more layered, and that is something I am attracted to. I love being versatile, and bad roles just give me more versatility and more meat in the characters I play,” he shares.

(This article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Brew News and The Free Press Journal)

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