Producer-director Suneel Darshan, who has a slew of successes behind him, opens up a Pandora’s Box by insinuating that Sandeep Vanga’s Animal is heavily influenced by two of his films Jaanwar (1999) and Ek Rishtaa: The Bond Of Love (2001).
While Jaanwar was a turning point for Akshay Kumar, who played an uncontrollable criminal who sobers down when a child enters his life, Ek Rishtaa… was about a troubled father-son relationship between Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar.
Suneel Darshan feels Animal seeks inspiration from his two films. “The title Animal was a mere translation of JAANWAR. I admit the elements of Jaanwar in Animal are not that pronounced. But the resemblance to EK RISHTAA was too close. This point was drawn to my attention by some Instagram video.”
Has Suneel seen Animal? “I got to watch the movie much after its release and I realised that while the story and several key characters were identical to my film Ek Rishtaa, the director Sandeep Vanga’s detailing and treatment bore his stamp.”
While Vanga, known to retaliate with a mouthful to any criticism, is yet to speak up on Suneel Darshan’s allegations, a major actor from Animal replied sarcastically, “This gentleman (Suneel Darshan) has a release coming up this week. So he needs all the publicity he can get. We wish him all luck.”
