DNA Exclusive: 'He is a gentle monster,' Arjun Kapoor opens up about his character in 'Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar'

Dibakar Banerjee directed 'Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar', starring actors Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra, is all set to enthral fans with their black comedy. The trailer of the upcoming film that will hit the theatres on March 19, was recently unveiled and it had the audience intrigued. 

With Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar being one of the first few Bollywood films to hit the theatres after 'Madam Chief Minister' and 'Roohi', expectations from Arjun Kapoor starrer are really high, given last year the theatres shut shop owing to the pandemic. 

And with the release of the film just a day away, we at DNA spoke to actor Arjun Kapoor about his upcoming film 'Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar', the suspenseful trailer, his character Pinky Dahiya and more in an exclusive chat. 

Here are some experts from the interview:

Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar's trailer remains full of suspense. Only a handful of films manage to come up with trailers like that. Do you think it’s going to be a drawing factor for the audience to the theatres? 

A. I think that is Dibakar Banerjee's USP that he has so much context and material in his films that his trailers only give you very little insight. And I think that would attract most film connoisseurs and people who like story-driven cinema, to theatres. And I think that is a very, very attractive part of our trailer is that you have seen something that really that catches our attention and you want answers so you would be attracted to the theatres.

While not much has been revealed about your character in the film, how would you like to describe him in the best way and not reveal too much?

So, Pinky Dahiya aka Satinder Dahiya is a boy who was born and brought up in Mahipalpur, which is on the border of Gurugram and Delhi. His father also served as a police officer. he is somebody who has got the job after his father passed away. He is somebody who is conflicted. I don't think his heart is in the job that he does, but he has to do it to make a living. He's been in tricky situations due to which he is in a predicament today where he needs to do certain things for the people above him so that he can be taken care of and he doesn't get stuck. He has a lot more than meets the eye. And eventually, the realization of anybody that spends a little time with Pinky is that the uniform does not define him, he is not a certain way because he wears a uniform, he is just a very different person from what you would expect a man in a uniform to be. He is a gentle monster. 

The monster part comes from the society that has created a man who's supposed to live in this patriarchal society. And the gentleness is because he actually has to learn to hide his emotions because that would make him vulnerable and susceptible in a society that feeds on weakness.

Are there any takeaways from your character?

As a human being, I'm fortunate I've got to live my dream but when you meet Pinky you realize you can feel very stifled if you're living a life where all your dreams and all your aspirations are unfulfilled, your personal, as well as your professional and I, think that can be a very suffocating place for a man to be. And on many, many levels, that is something that made me realize how fortunate I am while playing a character like Pinky. 

For the film, you underwent cop training and learnt how to use weapons. What was the training like? 

Well, it was fascinating because you take it for granted as a Hindi film hero, you're used to picking up weapons and shooting like you think you're running in slow motion and firing bullets to save the girl and fighting the goons. But the real-life situations are far more difficult to deal with because they made me do some training and exercises, they made me run around, move around and get a sense of how they work. And it is definitely something far more than meets the eye when we do it for films. Overwhelming because you realize the kind of effort that goes into becoming a cop and at the same time very interesting because as much as I learnt in the film, we hardly had to use most of it, it was just trickles of it, but it was great that Dibakar(Banerjee) felt I needed to go in for a few days to be able to use the trickles of it. 

The Haryanvi accent is on point. How much time did it take to acquire the accent? 

I think three months is what Dibakar put on the contract that I would need to prep and two months was the shoot time. So I've actually lived this film for almost six months eventually by the end of it. But three months went in prepping for that role, for the dialect. He used to come home every day for almost a month. Talk to me, make me read in English and in Hindi. He would just converse with me in the dialect, him and Tarun who was my dialect coach, and they made sure that by the end of it, I reached a point where it became second nature to me. 

In the film, you play Parineeti's nemesis, however, in real life you share a good bond with her. How did you manage to pull that off? 

When you're an actor you have to perform the character but in my personal space, I'm very comfortable and relaxed with her and we share a bond because of the first film that drew us together. So, it is very easy to split your personal space with your professional space when you're giving a shot. Between action and cut, you have to be convincing as the characters you have chosen to play it is important.

Your last film 'Panipat' released over a year ago in December 2019. How does it feel to be back in 2021 with your film hitting theatres in the first quarter? 

Well, I am elated to be able to welcome people back to theatres. Roohi has opened well, that gives us to believe that people are interested in coming and watching films in theatres. 

What is the one thing you enjoyed most about ‘Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar’?

I think the process of tick marking, working with my director that I had on my wish list 'Dibakar Banerjee'. Selfishly I chose to do a film where I knew I didn't have to think about commerce, I just wanted to indulge my senses. So I think Dibakar Banerjee is the one thing I enjoyed the most. He is somebody that needs to be experienced. 

What's next in the pipeline?

I have Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar releasing on March 19. I have 'Sardar Ka Grandson' on Netflix this summer. I have 'Bhoot Police' in September. Additionally, I start 'Ek Villain 2' in April and I'm prepping for that right now.