Acclaimed film-maker Dibakar Banerjee says Arjun Kapoor was eager to do Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar (SAPF) because he wanted to give a fitting reply to his naysayers. The producer and the director of this edge of the seat thriller believes that his exemplary work in the film will speak for itself.
Dibakar says,
“I could immediately see when Arjun came to meet me about Pinky (his character’s name in SAPF) that he was hungry. Hungry to find new dimensions in his work. Hungry to prove the naysayers wrong. Hungry to eat up all the criticism in Bollytown through his action. I went with hungry.”
He adds,
“It’s the hungry who end up changing things. Arjun changed himself for this. The dialect training. The boot camp with the cops. The workshops in Delhi and Haryana. The eighteen hour days. The endless rehearsals and discussions around the script with me and my researchers and creative team. We saw the change. Everyone will see it on the 19th.”
Dibakar Banerjee, reckons Jaideep Ahlawat to be an absolute revelation in Bollywood. He considers the talented Raazi actor to be one of the most versatile ones to have burst onto the scene in recent times! Jaideep plays the role of a corrupt, dark, evil cop in SAPF that is releasing this Friday.
Dibakar says,
“I remember fighting a very, very tough fight with my producing partner on some film. I was absolutely adamant on casting Jaideep in that role because it was completely villainous. It was completely against anything that Jaideep was or had done till that time and I had done that because I know Jaideep as an actor and I think we will be committing a big mistake if we sort of confined Jaideep to dark and underground and those kind of character types that you can think of.”
Talking about the violent on-screen relationship that Arjun and Parineeti share in the film, Dibakar says,
“It was Arjun vs Parineeti on the sets of SAPF for most of the days. They have done the typical romantic films together where there’s what we call in Bollywood ‘choreography’. SAPF wasn’t choreographed. We rehearsed the basic moves and then just went for it. We wanted the violence between them to be real which meant that they really had to hit each other which became a big problem because they are old buddies and the fact that Arjun is really very gentle.By the time the shooting ended, we stopped counting the bruises on Pari. So did she. But I love the shot where she slaps Arjun back. I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that one.”
Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar is a raw and edgy suspense thriller that pits Arjun versus Parineeti Chopra. It is set to be released on March 19 and is being distributed worldwide by Yash Raj Films.