Didn't think of my 'Animal' character as a villain: Bobby Deol

New Delhi: Actor Bobby Deol, who played the antagonist in the recently released "Animal", on Thursday said he didn't look at his character as a villain but as someone with childhood trauma.

The 54-year-old actor is receiving praise for his brief appearance as Abrar Haque, the menacing mute gangster in Sandeep Reddy Vanga's film, fronted by Ranbir Kapoor.

Deol, who returned to the big screen with "Animal" after four years, described Abrar as a "family man".

"I didn't think of my character as a villain. I saw my character as a child who was traumatised when he saw his grandfather committing suicide, so he loses his voice. He swears to avenge his grandfather's death.

"He is very family oriented. He is also romantic, he has three wives. He can kill and also get killed for his family," the actor said during a session on the second day of Agenda AajTak 2023 here.

"Animal", also starring Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandanna, and Triptii Dimri, is nearing Rs 800 crore mark in gross worldwide box office collections. The action drama, billed as a father-son story, hit the screens on December 1 in Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

The film may be on its way to becoming one of the highest earning Hindi films of 2023, but it has drawn criticism from a section of social media users for its misogynistic and graphically violent narrative.

Describing violence as an emotion, Deol said people will be able to relate to the degree of violence when they watch the film.

"The characters in this movie... the animal in them has woken up. They are all like animals. That's why there's violence. This is a family drama, a father-son story, and family relationships.

"It is a reflection of what happens in a society. Definitely action like that is visually created so that people get intrigued but that kind of action, that kind of violence exists in our society," he added.

Stories cannot be written without being influenced by what's happening in society, Deol further said.

"I'm an actor, I'm not trying to promote any kind of thing. I'm just an actor portraying something and if the film makes you aware of what is happening around you, it's the beauty of that," he said.