Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar: A tale of two strangers on the run

Khevna.P.Shah, INN/Bangalore

Content Writer

A story of two polar personalities colliding with each other on the run, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar was released on 19 May 2021, directed by Dibakar Banerjee. The 126 minutes running movie keeps you on the edge throughout.

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The movie begins with Sandeep “Sandy” Kaur Walia a.k.a Sandeep (Parineti Chopra) and Satinder “Pinky” Dahiya a.k.a Pinky (Arjun Kapoor) on the run, fleeing to Pithoragarh. Throughout the movie, it’s not revealed from whom are they running from, until the end. As Sandy is pregnant, they seek help from a friendly married couple played by Neena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav. Being the guest at their place Sandy and Pinky pretend to be married and help in their chores. Tyagi (Jaideep Ahlawat) is Pinky’s boss, who appointed him to do his job. Sandy is the top executive of Parivartan Bank, who comes from a privileged background in access to education and money, whereas Pinky is a suspended cop hailing from a backward society with no access to education and money. The two contrasting personalities are stuck together, who initially don’t get along well, but manages to escape from the situation.

The first half is quite gripping, but the second half seems to have failed to withhold the audience’s attention. It is a slow burn movie, with neither element of comedy or action. Though the movie offers many unexpected twists and unpredictable endings. The cinematography is beautiful and has captured the calming aesthetics of Pithoragarh, a village near the Nepal border. This movie marks the third collaboration between Parineti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor after starring in Ishqzaade (2014), and Namaste England (2018). But unlike the previous two movies, the characters in this movie have no romantic interest in each other and are merely just using each other as an object to protect themselves. Apart from that the character of Nena Gupta and Raghubir Yadav do give the old, frustrated married couple vibe.

The movie did a fantastic job of interchanging the traditional gender roles, starting from the names of the character. Pinky is usually a feminine name and Sandy is a masculine name, is probably why the audience was attracted to this movie in the first place. Sandy is an educated successful woman who doesn’t know how to cook and is neither a huge fan of dancing. On the other hand, Pinky is not that educated and is an expert in making ‘rotis’. Apart from the swapped gender roles, two other worlds were highlights in the movie as well. One is the world of the corporate world of power and banking that drains people’s money for their own benefit and the second being the police systems that are portrayed to carry out minister’s dealing. Both are the ugly face of society. The only laugh one gets in the entire movie is in the ending when they both realize that their journey has to take different paths to survive.

Sandeep Aur Pinky Farrar is a slow movie, and a slow movie doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad movie. The movie holds a different concept altogether from the casting to the locations and the story. But it’s a failed attempt from the director Dibakar Berjee to bring out a unique concept.