Do Patti review: Kajol, Kriti Sanon and Shaheer Sheikh send a super strong message that will make men think.... TWICE!
Do Patti
Do Patti tells the story of twin sisters, of whom, one is a victim of domestic violence… till the time she decides to ‘act’ up!
What is common to films like Alia Bhatt starrer Darlings, Taapsee Pannu’s Thappad, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s Provoked, Manisha Koirala’s Agni Sakshi, Vidya Balan’s Hamari Adhuri Kahani, Priyanka Chopra Jonas’ starrer 7 Khoon Maaf and a few others, besides the fact that they were superhit films. Well… they all dealt with the issue of domestic violence. This week’s release Do Patti also deals with the same premise. Will Kriti Sanon's debut as a producer with this film getting translated into ‘twice’ the impact, let’s analyse!
The film starts off with a mid-air ‘almost-mishap’ between the super influential son of a politician Dhruv Sood (Shaheer Sheikh) and Saumya (Kriti Sanon). Thanks to the on-time arrival of Inspector (Kajol), the duo gets saved. Thereafter starts the interrogation with Saumya, where she ‘confesses’ that her husband Dhruv tried to kill her. This is followed by a flashback of events which led to the situation and the condition in which she is today.
The story traces back to Devipur Police Station in Uttarakhand where we are introduced to Vidya Roshan aka VJ, an honest police officer cum lawyer who follows the rules very diligently. By her own admission, her USP is to ‘get stuck’, whose father was a judge while her mother was a lawyer. Her first case is that of domestic violence at the Sood residence. But, when Inspector Vidya reaches the Sood residence, Saumya Sood vehemently denies any charges of domestic violence, despite having jarring marks on her face, which speaks volumes.
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Even though Inspector Vidya does not insist on investigating the case, she does make it a point to keep track of Saumya and her twin sister Shailee. The story then, gets into yet another flashback of events mirroring the childhood and the trauma faced by the twin sisters under various circumstances. Since it was always about ‘Team Saumya’, her twin sister Shailee makes it a point to snatch away everything from her, including Dhruv.
But eventually, circumstances unfold itself in such a way that, Dhruv feels that between Shailee and Saumya, the latter would be his ideal life partner and hence, gets married to her. But, in a few days, Saumya becomes a victim of domestic violence. But, being the ideal wife that she is, chooses to remain mum and undergo torture and physical abuses at the hands of her husband Dhruv. But, with the timely intervention of Inspector Vidya, Dhruv gets imprisoned, despite having high contacts.
Just as when Inspector Vidya feels that she has successfully managed to solve the domestic violence case against Dhruv, suddenly, she feels that she has been played! That’s why she re-opens the case and requests for a re-investigation. Why does Inspector Vidya feel that she had been played, is it more than what meets the eye for Saumya, what becomes the ultimate resultant of the reinvestigation and does the ‘real culprit’ get caught is what forms the rest of the story.
There are many aspects which work in the favour of the film. Topping everything else is the basic and in your face message that the film gives, without being preachy. Even though there have been many films which had domestic violence as its central theme, this is an issue that needs to be addressed at every step. Secondly, the film has two powerful actresses in one frame- Kajol and Kriti Sanon!
Even though Kajol and Kriti Sanon had starred together in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Dilwale, by her own admission, the latter said (in an interview with PTI) that, she was glad to share ‘meaty scenes’ with Kajol, something they couldn't do in Dilwale. By meaty scenes, what she meant were the interrogation scene, investigation scene, wounds-cover up scene and a few others, which really upped Kriti’s mettle as an all-round performer. And when you have a livewire like Kajol in the same frame, the resultant is pure and sheer magic!
A major credit of all these goes to the film’s director Shashanka Chaturvedi, a man who admires Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Akira Kurusawa and Stanley Kubrick and likes… but, has never attended film school! One can see the glimpses/ touches of the aforementioned names in the film Do Patti. What is remarkable about this man’s direction is that he has given a free hand to an experienced hand like Kajol and also Kriti Sanon, who does an exemplary job in the double role!
There are comparatively a few flip sides, wherein the screenplay writers and the director seem to have easily piggybacking on the shoulders of ‘cinematic liberty’, although they do not act as a roadblock in any manner in the film. But, a serious introspection about a bunch of scenes could have only helped the film to be shaped furthermore better.
The film’s cinematography (Mart Ratassepp) is perfect and in sync with the narrative. Full marks to the outstanding double role face to face scenes). While the film’s background score (Anurag Saikia) is on-point, it’s the film’s music (Sachet-Parampara) that could have been a bit more hummable. Even though the songs do not fall flat, at the same time, there are no songs which have a strong recall value. The film could have been edited (Naman Arora, Hemal Kothari) by a good 20 minutes for it to be crispier.
As for the film’s performances, even though there is the fiery and feisty Kajol in her usual electrifying best, but, it's Kriti Sanon who not just takes the cake, but the whole bakery. The effortless switch between the two roles done by her is simply commendable. The pain, agony, suffering that gets covered by her stoic silence and that painful smile simply melts the viewer.
Besides them, there is Shaheer Sheikh who has been successful in breaking his ‘chocolate boy’ image with this film. There are moments when you feel sorry for him and then, the very next moment, you start hating his character. That’s the beauty of this man Shaheer Sheikh!
By her own admission, Kriti had said (during the trailer launch) that, ‘To be honest, I think it was so important to find the correct Dhruv. You know, because again, the character has so many layers. And the chemistry has to work in a certain way’. And when you see Shaheer in the ‘skin’ of Dhruv, you know that Kriti made absolutely no mistake! Remarkable makings of a ‘hands-on’ producer’!
Besides the aforementioned trio, there is the veteran actor Brijendra Kala, Vivek Mushran and Prachee Shah Paandya (in that order) who help carry the film forward.
All in all, Do Patti is a must watch for everyone, irrespective of the gender!