India, July 10 -- In the opening scene of Sandeep aur Pinky Faraar, a group of entitled young men drive through Delhi NCR late at night,

nonchalantly dissing a woman's character. One of the friends is mocked for wearing pink, then retaliates that he is 'man enough' to pull it off. Suddenly, the banter is replaced by the sound of bullets. Before the plot even unravels, director Dibakar Banerjee establishes the social, cultural, and political landscape of the film. And it is not just the opening scene, but how unmistakenly embedded it feels in Delhi's NCR belt. The audience has already understood, rather instinctively, where the scene was set without the director even spelling it out. It is this attention to place that has defined his cine...