Guneet Monga, who executive produced the live-action short film, Anuja, which made it to the Oscars shortlist for 2025, has been doing the interview rounds for the same. During an interaction with journalist Faye D'Souza, Monga, who co-produced Kill, was asked about the approach to violence in it, and her thoughts on how it compares to other violent films that became popular recently, most notably Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Animal.
Giving her two cents, Monga feels the violence in Kill is different from that in Animal while acknowledging that she enjoyed the film despite not agreeing with the "choice of story" and the "misogyny". “It is a theatrical experience. I was jaw-dropped. The action scenes and everything are obviously beautifully shot, with great music and everything. It's a different style of filmmaking," she said.
Guneet recalled feeling uncomfortable at the way the film "constantly objectified" women's bodies, but also opining that the choice to tell a story is completely that of the filmmaker. "I believe to each their own. Animal came and did really, really well. People enjoyed it, and I admit I watched it in cinemas and it was a theatrical experience. I dislike the misogyny of it. I like the action sequences of Animal,” she said.
Comparing the approach to violence in Animal to that of Kill, Monga mentioned that the film's self-awareness was one of its strongest qualities. “There was a lot of conversation on how we look at violence, how we treat violence, and how women are shown in the film. I'd say more power to our director, Nikhil Nagesh Bhat, who was always on board. All his films, even with Apurva (2023) if you see, how the women are shot, how you choose to show bodies in a certain way."
Monga added that the focus of Kill was not to glorify the violence. "We are focusing on the craft. Of course, action is happening. Killings are happening. But there was a very beautiful review that said, ‘Kill is a film that loves and hates its action in equal measure.' The intention was that yes, we come in the extreme violence genre, but in the end, those lines were blurred. There's a dialogue in the end: ‘Tu rakshak nahi raakshas hai,’ which is a lens back to, ‘An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’ So we didn't glorify any of the blood scenes. There was no slow-motion of blood, no celebration of violence.”
