WingMan: The Universal Irony of Love is a dark comedy directed by Anuj Gulati, starring Shashank Arora as Omi—a young man navigating heartbreak, loneliness, and the search for meaning in a hyperconnected world. The film balances humour and melancholy, offering an honest look at modern love and vulnerability
Shashank Arora in Wingman
Directed by Anuj Gulati and starring Shashank Arora, Wingman: The Universal Irony of Love is a dark comedy that captures the humour, heartbreak and contradictions of modern love. In a world that craves connection but fears vulnerability, WingMan: The Universal Irony of Love finds poetry in loneliness. Starring Shashank Arora and directed by Anuj Gulati, the film premieres October 17, exclusively in Hindi on Lionsgate Play. Tracing the chaos, comedy and heartbreak of urban connection, this comedy drama balances tenderness and wit, following a young man’s struggle to make sense of love, intimacy and the weight of his own solitude. With its textured performances, emotional honesty and a score by Tajdar Junaid, WingMan is a portrait of the modern romantic: hopeful, restless and endlessly searching.
WingMan plot
At the centre of the story is Omi, a 20-something call centre agent at a dating service whose life unravels after his long-term relationship ends. Desperate to escape loneliness, he begins an impulsive pursuit of a married woman, a decision that pulls him into a spiral of choices that blur the line between comedy and tragedy. Set against the chaos of urban life, WingMan moves between humour and heartbreak, observing the irony of how love can both heal and haunt.
'Many of us have been Omi': Shashank Arora
Shashank Arora, who plays Omi in WingMan, on what drew him to the role and how he approached the character, said, “When I first read the script, I didn’t see Omi as a character. I saw a mirror. There was something deeply honest in how he stumbles through relationships, searching, pretending, performing, and, at times, breaking. He’s not easy to like, but he’s easy to understand, and that’s what drew me in. Wingman is a film that understands the contradiction of city life, being surrounded by millions yet feeling like you’re stranded on an island. I think many of us have been Omi at some point, caught between what we feel and what we show. What I loved about Anuj’s writing is that it doesn’t try to beautify the discomfort. It sits in it. There’s a rhythm to Omi’s loneliness, and playing him meant surrendering to that rhythm, being awkward, uncertain, sometimes even unkind. WingMan doesn’t offer answers about love; it just holds up a lens and asks you to look. And that’s what made it special for me.”
Anuj Gulati on directing WingMan
Writer & Director of WingMan - Anuj Gulati reflects on what inspired the story and what he hopes it evokes in viewers, “I started writing WingMan at a time when I was surrounded by people, and yet most of us were lonely. That contradiction fascinated me. The film grew out of that feeling, the irony that in a hyperconnected world, intimacy can still feel unreachable. For me, WingMan is about that ache, that humour, and that very modern fear of silence. Omi, the protagonist, isn’t extraordinary. He’s every one of us who has been afraid to be alone and, in the process, made mistakes to fill the void. What I hope audiences take away is not just empathy for him, but recognition. That in all our messy attempts to connect, we’re not that different. The film’s comedy, for me, comes from truth, and truth can be uncomfortable, but also deeply human.”
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