Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar: Dibakar Banerjee's Attempt At Providing A Fresh Perspective On Gender

Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor in Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. (Image courtesy: arjunkapoor)

Dibakar Banerjee's upcoming film Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar will see the director's attempt at providing an alternative perspective on gender. Speaking about his upcoming release to news agency PTI, Dibakar Banerjee said, "The thought was to look at gender in a way we hadn't looked at before. I was not really satisfied with the template of a typical relationship between a man and a woman. Why make a film about it? That's when certain things that I've always wondered about, came together. In this case, it's gender,"

The director of Khosla Ka Ghosla also added that with his upcoming film, he attempts to challenge Bollywood's idea of "patriarchy" through the two actors. Quoting film critic Laura Mulvey's concept of the "male gaze", he said, "The big studios are famous for that kind of patriarchy and that kind of marginalisation of women, that kind of male gaze. Even when you have films that sort of break the male gaze, the confusion is even more apparent because in the same film, the gaze keeps changing because we are taught to appease the masses, give them what they want. We need the male gaze and we need the female as a consumption material for that male gaze."

Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor play the titular roles in Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar. This is their third collaboration after 2012 romantic-action film Ishaqzaade and 2018 romantic-comedy Namaste England.

Have a look at the trailer of Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar here. Arjun Kapoor plays a Haryanvi cop while Parineeti Chopra plays the role of a corporate employee in the film.

Dibakar Banerjee, who is best-known for his twists in storytelling that challenge predictable scenarios, told PTI, "Parineeti is a talented actor but has been at the receiving end of Bollywood's patriarchal approach. They have played a couple before in films where the patriarchy has been nauseating."

On the work front, Dibakar Banerjee has directed films such as Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Love Sex Aur Dhokha and Shanghai. His last theatrical release was Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! in 2015. He has also directed snippets in Lust Stories and Ghost Stories which released in Netflix.

Besides Arjun and Parineeti, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar also stars Neena Gupta, Rajdeep Ahlawat and Raghuvir Yadav in pivotal roles. Produced by Yash Raj Films, the film is slated to release on March 20.

(With PTI inputs)