Filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan and lyricist-writer Varun Grover have taken a sly dig at director Anurag Kashyap for praising Animal maker Sandeep Reddy Vanga and requesting critics to have a one-on-one interaction with the latter to clear their confusions regarding the controversial movie.

Calling Vanga "the most misunderstood, judged, and reviled filmmaker at the moment", Kashyap on Saturday took to Instagram to share a picture with the Animal director. "To me, he is the most honest, vulnerable, and a lovely person," he wrote alongside the photo, revealing that he had watched Animal twice and urging critics to engage with Vanga directly.

Ghaywan, whose directorial debut film Masaan was co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, expressed his disagreement by writing "cringe" in the comments section. Grover, another familiar name associated with Kashyap's projects, commented "No." on the post.

The reactions from Ghaywan and Grover are particularly noteworthy given their past collaborations with Kashyap. Ghaywan co-directed the second season of Netflix’s Sacred Games with Kashyap, and he previously worked as a chief assistant director to Kashyap in the acclaimed Gangs of Wasseypur.

Grover, a well-known lyricist and screenwriter, has collaborated with Kashyap on multiple projects, including Gangs of Wasseypur, Bombay Velvet, Raman Raghav 2.0 and That Girl in Yellow Boots.