Pinch (Tribeca 2025) Film Review & Summary

Pinch explores the continued struggles women face in being believed when men, often assumed to be the good ones, behave badly.

ByAmari Allah Hours Posted on Hours Updated on

Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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“Pinch” Film Details

  • Runtime: 1 Hour(s) and 23 Minutes
  • Seen Via: Film Festival – Tribeca Film Festival | Press Screening or Screener
  • Released On: In Theaters
  • Public Release Date: June 6, 2025 (Get Tickets)
  • Director(s): Uttera Singh
  • Writer(s): Uttera Singh, Adam Linzey
  • Primary Language: Non-English (Hindi) | With Some English
  • Genre(s): Comedy, Crime, Drama
  • Rating: Not Rated

Summary

Maitri, who desires to become a notable travel vlogger, finds her world, and her mother Shobha’s world, upended when their landlord, Rajesh, does something to Maitri no one would believe he would do – and Maitri commits multiple acts to push karma’s hand and get justice.

Cast and Characters

Maitri (Uttera Singh)

  • Character Summary: While Maitri has an education in STEM, her dream right now is to be a travel vlogger, especially with having friends who have gone viral and become successful on YouTube.

Shobha (Geeta Agrawal Sharma)

  • Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
  • Character Summary: With coming from a world with limited opportunities for women, Shobha is more traditional than the borderline westernized Maitri. She focuses on her school of dance, making nice with neighbors, and trying to have a place in the community notable enough to be included, but nowhere near the top of the echelon.

Rajesh (Nitesh Pandey)

  • Check out other productions we’ve covered starring this actor: [Link to Actor’s Tag]
  • Character Summary: As a local landlord, Rajesh is regarded as a significant figure in the community. Due to his kindness towards people like Shobha, particularly in not significantly increasing their rents after the loss of their spouses, he is respected and generally well-liked. However, whether this is a façade to silence people like Miatri, when Rajesh acts on intrusive thoughts, only a few know.

What To Expect In “Pinch” (Not Rated) – Content Overview

  • Dialog:
    • Cursing: Occasional
    • Innuendo: Moderate
  • Violence:
    • Gore/ Blood: Light
    • Notable Violence: Fight Scene
  • Sexual Content:
    • Nudity: Implied
    • Sexual Violence: Yes (Groping)
  • Miscellaneous:
    • Vomiting: Yes

Links

Review and Commentary

Highlight(s)

The Sacrifices Required To Be Part Of The Collective [84/100]

Similar to Rosemead, there is this sense of conflict between the focus on the individual’s needs, in this case Maitri’s desire for acknowledgement of what happened, and in extension justice, and wanting to keep the peace, maintain a role in a community, and not be the subject of the latest gossip. Now, let it be clear that Pinch is not as heavy as Rosemead by any measure, and yet it somehow presents a light yet impactful way of handling its subject matter.

However, it is never lost on you how much Shobha suffers because her daughter’s sense of dignity is more important than her mother’s work, living situation, or social life. In many ways, through Matitri and Shobha, you see the type of generational divide that creates a clean line between the past and future, especially for those like Maitri who have Western civilization influences.

For Maitri isn’t foolish, she is aware of how Rajesh and his wife can not only threaten her mom’s business but also ruin her reputation and besmirch the family name. Yet, despite her own wrongdoing, Maitri remains firm on some foreign sense of principles, and in watching her plight, one is reminded of another film, Oh, Hi! Which is mentioned because, like with that film, while you may struggle to condone what the lead actress did or is doing, at the same time, Singh and Linzey’s writing makes it so that you understand Maitri and, in some ways, feel that, if you were in her shoes, you might do the same.

Shobha and Maitri’s Relationship [86/100]

One thing that has always fascinated me when watching films about first-generation immigrant kids, or those who have had the burden of expectation placed on them because their parents sacrificed so much for their education, is watching those kids rebel against their parents. With Shobha and Maitri, while it seems Maitri’s dad was more inclined for her to study abroad than Shobha, seeing the switch from recognizing the gift and benefit of Maitri becoming educated, to becoming dismayed by how stubborn, opinionated, and potentially arrogant it has made her is both sad and comical.

In many ways, it makes you wonder how those kids, especially girls, can win? You want them to be smart, successful, and valued in society, yet humble? How does that work exactly?

Throughout Pinch, it seems that this is the core issue between Shobha and Maitri. There is the classic envy about the opportunities Shobha wasn’t afforded, paired with the feeling that, because Maitri has so many options, she rejects Shobha’s choices to a point. Thus forcing Shobha to constantly present her thoughts and feelings as valid and logical, in the face of a child who pushes her to come off as outdated, meek, and embarrassing.

There honestly are quite a few things which can get you emotional about Pinch, and the ups and downs of Maitri and Shobha’s relationship is one of them. For with being the only true safety net the other person’s has, every time it is presented they may cut the other one off, it can be a challenge to, even with the tone of Pinch, not get teary-eyed.

Whether Realistic Or Not, The Ending Is Satisfying [85/100]

Watching too many films about assault, murder, and other dark topics, which often are based on true stories with endings that too often don’t lead to judicial or karmic justice, can be hard. Thankfully, Pinch doesn’t seem to want to follow that trend. It creates an ideal scenario where, even without experiencing what Maitri did in the slightest, there was a feeling of living vicariously through her, tears were shed when the final scenes unfolded, and everything came together. It honestly shocked me a bit, but it also forced me to realize how utterly invested I had become in Uttera Singh’s performance, to the point where I felt connected in a way that I generally don’t with characters on screen.

Overall

Our Rating (85/100): Positive (Worth Seeing) – Recommended

“Pinch” is a moving, accessible drama that explores the generational and cultural divide between a mother and daughter navigating trauma, dignity, and community expectations. With heartfelt performances and a satisfying, intentionally crowd-pleasing ending, the film balances lightness with impact, offering both a call to action and a plea for grace.”

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Amari is the founder and head writer of Wherever-I-Look.com and has been writing reviews since 2010, with a focus on dramas and comedies.