“Which girl would you like to pick up in a club, the one wearing lipstick or the one without it? I’d pick up the one without because she’s not there with the plan of sleeping with someone” this conversation between two guys in a car intriguingly starts the film. The next thing we know, Pinky (Arjun Kapoor) from Haryana Police is at a hotel to escort a famous banker Sandeep Kair aka Sandy Walia (Parineeti Chopra).
She was waiting for her friend-cum-boss, who sends Pinky to drive her to him. After a plot twist, they both justify the title of the film and try to escape to Nepal, leaving a big banking scam behind. Is their story connected to each other, or are they two different people with different stories? That’s what the story tries to balance it with the mystery of Sandy running from the ghosts of her past.
When you’ve names like Dibakar Banerjee and Varun Grover penning a story, there’s a specific set of expectations you set, but as Arjun’s Pinky says in the film, “expectations = frustration.” Absolutely loved Parineeti Chopra in the film. Back to back two (after The Girl On The Train) noteworthy performances, as she continues to be SUPARineeti. If I take Hasee Toh Phasee as her benchmark film, these two come really close to match that. This is the Parineeti her fans were waiting for. For me, Arjun Kapoor has been Aurangzeb & 2 States till now, but the way Dibakar explores this unplumbed, uncharted side of him deserves to be talked about. The efforts are visible throughout, putting up a truthful performance. From the dialect to the physical attributes of staying stern all the time, Arjun could’ve easily ruined this, but he doesn’t. Neena Gupta, Raghubir Yadav, Jaideep Ahlawat – three stellar performers but not enough dough to prove their prowess. This left me low-key sad for Neena ma’am, as she can do a role like this while sleepwalking. Raghubir sir gets the notes right of his character but doesn’t have enough moments to cement his space in the narrative.
Rating: 7/10