Filmmaker Karan Johar completed five years in the film industry as a director in 2023. To mark the milestone, he released his seventh directorial titled 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani' which was led by Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. The film which also starred Shabana Azmi, Dharmendra, and Jaya Bachchan was a hit at the box office and was equally loved by the critics. However, for Johar, the best film of the year is Sandeep Reddy Vanga's 'Animal'. 

Karan Johar praised Vanga for his film 'Animal that had Ranbir Kapoor in the lead. Johar showered praise on Vanga when they were both seated beside each other at the mega pan-Indian roundtable 2023 by Galatta Plus. "People have come up to me after I spoke about how much I loved Animal, and said, 'You have made Rocky Aur Rani,' That's the vaccination for a film like Animal. It's the opposite extreme. I said that I cannot disagree with you more, because Animal to me is the best film of the year. It took me a while to reach to this statement and a lot of courage because when you are around people, you fear judgment. Like during the time of Kabir Singh, which I also loved... I was like I am going to say this and I am going to get dirty looks from certain people but I don't care anymore," Karan said on the roundtable which also had Taapsee Pannu, Rani Mukerji, Rima Das, Jude Anthany Joseph and Prithvi Konanur.