‘Do Patti’ movie review: Kriti Sanon, Kajol struggle to power this thriller on domestic abuse

A still from ‘Do Patti’
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

For a long time, one believed that a compelling cinematic narrative shows more than it tells, and expresses more than it explains. However, the recent content spurt on OTT platforms seems bent on cerebrating the opposite. Do Patti is yet another addition to the long list of films that skip theatres for a streaming service. It reduces the art of storytelling to a mere artifice for meaningful cinema. These films end up delivering the message but little else. 

A spiritual cousin of Seeta Aur Geeta and Darlings, Do Patti starts like a police procedural, forays into chick-lit, and ends like an essay on domestic abuse or a public display advertisement for the Bell Bajao campaign. Writer Kanika Dhillon’s dialogues have more bite than her screenplay. Marked by an inconsistent tone, it feels patchy and too convenient to evoke deep empathy for characters in this mishmash of genres. Interestingly, for a film that picks the spirit of law over the word of law, it fails to make the same choice in the realm of cinema.

Also Read: Kriti Sanon and Kajol on their act in ‘Do Patti’

Set in the misty hills of Uttarakhand, it is the tale of two sisters (both played by Kriti Sanon) and a dogged police officer (Kajol) out to solve a case of attempted murder. Saumya and Shailee are two birds of the same feather. One is docile while the other is more flamboyant and conceited. A turbulent childhood turns them into two different individuals who happen to aspire and fight for the same man. 

Son of a Haryana politician, Dhruv Sood (Shaheer Sheikh) is an entitled brat with anger issues. Beneath that rakish charm that gives wing to feminine imagination, there is an insecure beast, nurtured by centuries of patriarchy, who sees the sisters as two objects that he could display on his showcase depending on the guest in the house. 

Kanika underlines the violence that women endure by allowing these beasts to prey on them but together with director Shashanka Chaturvedi, fails to turn some poignant moments and deep social observations into a well-oiled moving narrative. Mart Ratassepp’s cinematography is good for selling Uttarakhand to connoisseurs of adventure sports but there is little for those seeking a high in unearthing the undulations in the characters’ psyche. 

While Kriti delineates the double role well, as a device the trick doesn’t work for it points to the big reveal from a distance. It becomes more of an exercise to display the competent actor’s ability to play both the submissive and rebellious side of the feminine mind with felicity. Shaheer is expected to punch above his weight category without stealing the show and his confusion shows on screen. 

Kajol follows her contemporaries like Raveena Tandon and Karishma Kapoor to play a police officer who hasn’t lost her verve despite being worn down by life and her superiors. She is efficient and brings her innate spontaneity to the character but the desi cuss words don’t sit easy on her tongue. After a point, the natural performer seems she has been shackled by uneven writing and the dos and don’ts dictated by those running the show.

Do Patti is currently streaming on Netflix