We have all met at some point the kind of duplicates men who would shamelessly beat their wives, picking all possible women, exercise their domination, and yet qualifying feminists who “respect women”. They will not even deny their absurd acts and blame the victim to trigger them or make fun of their despair. These men, whose actions often overcome their own inadequacies and dysfunctions, can unfortunately be found in all social strata.
The latest original Netflix film, Do Patti, brings us one of these men to Dhruv Sood (Shaheer Sheikh) from a small town in Hill, which regularly beats his trauma wife Saumya (Kriti Sanon). The film begins with a paraglide that has been wrong, because the couple is suspended in the air for their life of their glider. Saumya, who thinks that her husband has sabotaged her harness, begs her life. After being rescued, Saumya told Inspector Vidya Jyothi (Kajol) that her husband tried to assassinate her, and we are brought to a flashback sequence three months ago, when the two met for the first time.
Saumya is presented as an anxious introvert, which has been in a serious depression since the death of her parents. Now living with an alcoholic goalkeeper, she quietly suffers from several phobias and trauma. She also has a tumultuous relationship with her twin sister Shailee, who was sent to an inn because of her abusive behavior towards Saumya, to come back in time to interfere with her love life.
A major defect that holds Do Patti behind is the incoherent intrigue and its fluctuating tone. Some scenes are intense and leave a lasting impact; Others are only charges that add nothing significant to history. A thriller is supposed to constantly keep the viewers on their guard and carefully install the parts before pulling the carpet. Patti, however, is not able to maintain this iron handle on its plot.
The film, for example, waste a lot of time establishing the character of Kajol. She plays an idealistic cop who speaks in the stereotypical idea of Bollywood of what a hinterland accent is supposed to be – it is neither Hindi nor Haryanvi nor Bhojpuri. Can we please stop with the lazy under-effective caricature already?
At one point, he began to feel that the writers were so starred by Kajol that they forgot to add meat to his role and hoped that she would wear the character with her natural charisma. Vidya Jyothi de Kajol, who goes through “VJ”, is clumsy, close to her popular roles in romantic comedies, instead of being a serious cop. While Kajol did her best to deliver with the little bit she was given, the blame resides with the writers for having underused a refined actor like her. If you are not his fan, his arch of history will feel stretched several times.
Another area where the film vacillates is its stereotypical and regressive representation of its female characters. Sanon’s twin sister is shown as a loose woman, who drinks, has short hair, carries attractive outfits, goes to club and flirts with men. Why are we always holding these silly tropes in 2024 and nourishing the patriarchal beast. Shailee is painted with a singular brush, and there are no other nuances to his character. It is supposed to be nasty and intrigued, so of course, it does not in accordance with what our “culture” judges just. Or is it automatically labeled evil simply because it drinks or likes to dress? Although the extremely introverted behavior of Saumya could be attributed to its trauma, the film could have – and in fact, should have – to avoid the version of Shailee of the era of witchcraft.
Despite its faults, the film does an excellent job in its representation of patriarchy, violence against women, trauma of childhood and its deep impact. In a disturbing scene in the film, we see Dhruv brutally beating Saumya. He pulls his hair, kicking it in the merciless guts, rolls it like football, throws it on the stairs and the leash soaked with blood on the ground. In the end, he frankly throws the typical declaration “why did you trigger my anger”.
The whole sequence is well performed and bubbles your blood insofar as you would like to enter the screen and hit the character of Sheikh. Although it is disturbing and can trigger victims of abuse, it is also one of the most powerful scenes in the film. This shows not only the brutality of domestic violence against women, but also sick and twisted psychiations for monsters that perpetuate mistreatment.
The film also has incredible performance, especially by Sanon and Sheikh. Sanon did a brilliant job to play two roles and is also convincing in both. His characters have been carefully written, infused with the smallest aspects of human behavior in consideration. There is a scene where Saumya is pushed into the paragliding for the first time, despite a serious acrophobia, and halfway through the activity, she has her eyes tear by thinking of her deceased mother. It is such a moving representation of the way in which the sorrow that could be brought can breach unconsciously with the slightest push, reminding us that he was waiting under the surface for all this time. While the award -winning national actor also offered some impressive performance earlier, especially in Mimi, she has surpassed herself in this original Netflix.
The way in which Patti manages and portrays the themes of infantile trauma, rivalries of brothers and sisters, domestic violence, abuse and objectivation of women is quite impressive. He explores intimately even the smallest details of these difficult themes, supplemented by brilliant performance. However, the brilliant presents itself in patches. If only the film had a better rhythm or a constant dynamic throughout its runtime – and avoided harmful stereotypes – it would have done justice to the important questions which it tries to explore. Films dealing with such sensitive themes must be more captivating to please a wider audience. Do Patti manages his subject impressively – he has his intentions in the right place. But he has trouble establishing himself as a good thriller.
Note: 6.5 / 10
