Not satisfied with template of typical man-woman relationship: Dibakar Banerjee

Director Dibakar Banerjee was not interested in exploring the dynamic of a typical relationship between a man and woman in “Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar”, which he says, is his attempt to make something twisted on gender and patriarchy.

Even the names are a flip on gender expectations as the female lead is known as 'Sandeep' while the male protagonist is called 'Pinky'.

Backed by Yash Raj Films and starring two mainstream Bollywood stars Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor, the film will “provoke, intrigue and unsettle” the audiences, the director 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,” Dibakar told

The director, known for films such as “Khosla Ka Ghosla”, “Love Sex Aur Dhokha” and “Shanghai”, is not new to subverting expectations and predictable scenarios to tell stories that stand apart in Bollywood.

“Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar”, he said, gave him a chance to play off Bollywood's own “unsaid and implicit patriarchy” through the two actors.

Sandeep aur pinky faraar is all set to hit the screens on March 20 and hopefully turns out be a much needed hit for both Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra.