Kiran Rao has last laugh over Sandeep Reddy Vanga as Laapataa Ladies gets more views than Animal on Netflix

23/05/2024

It's a revenge story that director Sandeep Reddy Vanga would've been fascinated by had he not been at the receiving end of it. After facing unsavoury comments by Vanga earlier this year, director Kiran Rao can find solace in the fact that her low-budget, rural-set dramedy Laapataa Ladies has accumulated more views on Netflix than Vanga's big-budget, widely publicised and hugely controversial action film Animal.

Starring Ranbir Kapoor, Animal was released in theatres in December, and immediately broke box office records. The movie ended its run with over Rs 900 crore globally. Laapataa Ladies, on the other hand, premiered at last year's Toronto International Film Festival before being released theatrically in March, and made a little over Rs 20 crore worldwide. But the story couldn't be more different on streaming.

Laapataa Ladies debuted on Netflix a month ago, and has since accumulated 13.8 million views. Animal debuted on Netflix in January, and accumulated at least 13.6 million views in the first three weeks before dropping out of the top 10 in week four. Laapataa Ladies has not only managed to retain spots in the top 10 for a week longer than Animal, it hasn't dropped below the top 5. The movie generated 5.3 million viewership hours from 2.6 million views in week one, showed an improvement in week two by generating 7 million viewership hours from 3.4 million views, and then improved again by reporting 11.6 million viewership hours from 5.6 million views in week three. In week four, the film raked in 4.5 million viewership hours from 2.2 million views.

Animal debuted at number 4 with 20 million viewership hours from 6.2 million views, rose to number three with 18.5 million viewership hours from 5.5 million views in week two, and then fell to number eight with 6.3 million viewership hours from 1.9 million views before dropping out of the top 10 entirely. The benchmark for non-English language films on Netflix this year was set by the Spanish film Society of the Snow. The Oscar-nominated survival drama debuted with 55 million viewership hours, which increased to 68 million in week two. As far as Indian films are concerned, Hrithik Roshan's action spectacle Fighter debuted with 16 million viewership hours from nearly 6 million views.

Kiran Rao addressed the misogyny in Vanga's films in an interview in November, to which Vanga responded by highlighting similar issues in her ex-husband Aamir Khan's film Dil. He addressed her in an interview with Dainik Bhaskar as 'that woman'. Responding to his comments, Kiran Rao told The Quint, "I haven’t commented on Mr Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s films because I have not seen them. I have often spoken on misogyny and the representation of women on screen, and I have talked about it on various platforms and at various times. But I have never taken the name of any film because it is not really about the specific films, it is about the issues. I will continue to speak on these issues. So, why Mr Vanga Reddy has assumed that I am talking about his film, you will have to ask him."

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