We have now all sooner or later encountered the type of duplicitous males who would shamelessly beat their wives, catcall each doable feminine, exert their dominance, and but name themselves feminists who “respect ladies.” They will not even deny their preposterous acts and would both blame the sufferer for triggering them or make enjoyable of their hopelessness. These males, whose actions are sometimes overcompensating for their very own inadequacies and dysfunctions, can sadly be present in each stratum of society.
Netflix’s newest authentic movie Do Patti, brings to us one such man in Dhruv Sood (Shaheer Sheikh) from a small hill city, who recurrently beats his traumatised spouse Saumya (Kriti Sanon). The movie begins with a paraglide gone incorrect, because the couple dangle within the air for his or her lives from their glider. Saumya, who thinks her husband has sabotaged her harness, begs for her life. Upon being rescued, Saumya tells inspector Vidya Jyothi (Kajol) that her husband tried to homicide her, and we’re taken to a flashback sequence of three months in the past, when the 2 first met.
Saumya is launched as an anxious introvert, who has been in extreme despair since her dad and mom died. Now residing with an alcoholic caretaker, she is quietly affected by a number of phobias and traumas. She additionally has a tumultuous relationship together with her twin sister Shailee, who was despatched off to a hostel due to her abusive behaviour in the direction of Saumya, solely to return in time to intrude together with her love life.
A significant flaw that holds Do Patti again is the incoherent plot and its fluctuating tone. Among the scenes are intense and go away an enduring impression; others are merely fillers that do not add something significant to the story. A thriller is meant to continually preserve viewers on their toes and thoroughly arrange the items earlier than pulling the rug. Do Patti, nonetheless, is not capable of keep that iron grip on its plot.
The movie, for example, wastes plenty of time in establishing Kajol’s character. She performs an idealist cop who talks in Bollywood’s stereotypical thought of what a hinterland accent is meant to be — it is neither Hindi nor Haryanvi or Bhojpuri. Can we please cease with the lazy sub-altern caricature already?
At one level, it begins to really feel that the writers had been so starstruck by Kajol that they forgot so as to add any meat to her position and hoped she’d carry the character together with her pure charisma. Kajol’s Vidya Jyothi, who goes by “VJ”, is goofy, near her in style roles in romantic comedies, as an alternative being a severe cop. Whereas Kajol has tried her finest to ship with no matter little she was given, the blame lies with the writers for underutilising a refined actor like her. For those who aren’t her fan, her story arc will really feel stretched factor on a number of events.
One other space the place the movie falters is its stereotypical and regressive illustration of its feminine characters. Sanon’s twin sister is proven as a unfastened girl, who drinks, has brief hair, wears seductive outfits, goes clubbing and flirts with males. Why are we nonetheless sticking to those idiotic tropes in 2024 and feeding the patriarchal beast. Shailee is painted with a singular brush, and there are not any different shades to her character. She is meant to be villainous and scheming, so in fact she’s not consistent with what our “tradition” deems righteous. Or is it in order that she’s routinely labelled evil simply because she drinks or likes to decorate up? Whereas Saumya’s extraordinarily introverted behaviour could be attributed to her trauma, the movie might have — and in reality, ought to have — averted Shailee’s model from the witchcraft period.
Regardless of its flaws, the movie does a superb job in its illustration of patriarchy, violence in opposition to ladies, childhood trauma and its deep-seated impression. In a disturbing scene from the movie, we see Dhruv brutally beating Saumya. He pulls her hair, kicks her within the guts mercilessly, rolls her like a soccer, throws her over the steps and leaves her blood-soaked on the ground. In the long run, he candidly throws away the everyday “why did you set off my anger” assertion.
All the sequence is well-performed and boils your blood to the extent the place you’d really feel like coming into the display screen and punching Sheikh’s character. Whereas it is disturbing and could be triggering for victims of abuse, it is usually one of the vital highly effective scenes within the movie. It not solely exhibits the brutality of home violence in opposition to ladies but in addition the sick and twisted psyches of monsters who perpetrate abuse.
The movie additionally boasts some superb performances, particularly by Sanon and Sheikh. Sanon has executed an excellent job at taking part in twin roles and is equally convincing in each of them. Her characters have been fastidiously written, infused with the smallest features of the human behaviour in consideration. There’s a scene the place Saumya is pushed into paragliding for the primary time, regardless of having extreme acrophobia, and halfway via the exercise, she will get teary-eyed pondering of her useless mom. It’s such a shifting illustration of how the grief one could be carrying can subconsciously erupt with even the slightest push, reminding us that it was ready beneath the floor all this whereas. Whereas the Nationwide award-winning actor has given a number of spectacular performances earlier as properly, particularly in Mimi, she has outdone herself on this Netflix authentic.
The way in which Do Patti handles and portrays the themes of childhood trauma, sibling rivalries, home violence, abuse, and the objectification of ladies is sort of spectacular. It intimately explores even the smallest particulars of those tough themes, complemented by sensible performances. Nonetheless, brilliance is available in patches. If solely the movie had higher pacing or fixed momentum all through its runtime — and averted dangerous stereotypes — it might have executed justice to the essential points it makes an attempt to discover. Movies coping with such delicate themes should be extra fascinating to attraction to a bigger viewers. Do Patti handles its subject material in spectacular methods — it has its intentions in the best place. But it surely struggles to ascertain itself as a great thriller.
Score: 6.5/10
