MUMBAI: Dibakar Banerjee "Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" presents its lead stars Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra as adversaries. The filmmaker says he wanted the violence between the two actors to appear real, which meant they had to actually hit each other. That was a big problem because Parineeti and Arjun are old buddies.

"It was Arjun versus Parineeti on the sets of the film on most days. They have done the typical romantic films together where there is what we call in Bollywood 'choreography'. 'Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar' wasn't choreographed. We rehearsed the basic moves and then just went for it," said Dibakar.

"Male violence against the woman is something we all know well in the subcontinent. It's also used often to gloat and used as prurient male-gaze click-baits while promoting a film. 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," he added.

"He (Arjun) is double Pari's size and has hands like sledeghammers. 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!" the filmmaker signed off.

"Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar" is set to release on March 19.