Dibakar Banerjee: Death knell for stories if we don’t show some spine

Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar dropped on Amazon Prime Video on May 20, two months after its theatrical run

All that matters to Dibakar Banerjee is that 'Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar' has earned a nod of approval from his 85-year-old mother. A quick glance at social media will tell you that there are countless others who share his mother's opinion. Ever since the Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra-starrer dropped on Amazon Prime Video, there has been an outpouring of love from viewers, something the film didn't receive upon its theatrical release in March.

The man behind the black comedy doesn't quite know how to react to the appreciation. "I'm not on social media, so I have no idea about the reaction. I get to know [about the film's success] through happy calls from the studio," begins Banerjee, laughing that his leads keep calling to apprise him of the growing love for the satire. "This is the film you would've seen theatrically. We haven't changed an iota of it."

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Dibakar Banerjee

The movie, which sees Chopra's banker Sandeep Kaur and Kapoor's suspended cop Pinky Dahiya on the run from the Haryana police, studies how the balance is tipped against even the most successful women. The material is only elevated by the leads' restrained performances. "I'm happy if people are saying it's Arjun's best performance by far. I always had Parineeti in my mind [for the female lead]. For Pinky, we had one or two names in mind. Aditya [Chopra] suggested Arjun for the role; he felt Arjun is in a phase where he'll jump out of his comfort zone and will die trying. I was happy to see that he didn't let the ball drop."

From returning his National Award as a mark of support to the protesting FTII students in 2015 to offering a commentary on the majoritarian government through his short film in Ghost Stories (2020), Banerjee has often raised his voice against the ruling dispensation. Asked about the gagging of creative voices, the filmmaker says, "I had warned seven to eight years ago that the film industry [should] give a clear signal that we are not a bunch of sitting ducks who will react to outside pressure. We should prove ourselves to be thinking adults who care for society and care to tell true stories. If the film industry doesn't come together and show some spine, it will be the death knell for stories. While we talk about our love for our country and patriotism, we have given ground to Hollywood to make inroads into our system. It has been able to do so due to its superior content."

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