Hailing from a middle-class family, Pankaj believes that hisife is all sorted-get an engineering degree; marry theove of hisife, Riya; and settle down for a ‘happily-ever-after’ in Delhi. But when Riya decides to go abroad for further studies, his plan goes for a toss. Still determined to keep to the plan, he promises to wait for her. After settling in Jamshedpur, though, he becomes close to his boss’s daughter, Kajal, and starts assisting in her social work. In the midst of the changing economic and religious environment of India in the 1990s, he undertakes a journey, which not only gives him a peek into ruralife but also a new and focused perspective onife andove.ove Side by Side not only gives a glimpse of India in the ‘90s, but also demonstrates why sometimes the failure of a well-laid-out plan can be the best thing to happen inife.