Do Patti Review: Good Acting, Lost Plot - Hits & Misses In The Film

This article contains spoilers. The Do Pattis are here, the opposite personalities just like Seeta and Geeta. Both of them, Kriti Sanon! Accompanying her in this twisted ride-of-a-film are Kajol and Shaheer Sheikh. The film dropped on Netflix on October 25 and deals with the death of a mother, rivalry between sisters, a no-nonsense cop and finally a husband who cheats and beats all at once. 

Do Patti: Plot

To me, the plot seemed a tad bit lost in this Kriti Sanon starrer. You'd find yourself craving a sense of purpose sometimes times. (Hint: You gotta sit through half the film to finally get it). 

Kriti Sanon plays Shailee and Saumya, twin sisters, and she slays with her performances in both avatars. One is timid and shy and the other one is wild and free. Dhruv Sood, the minister's son and a heart-on-sleeve guy is halfway through falling for shy Saumya before desirable Shailee enters and seeps him off his feet him. While the epiphany launches upon Sood, "Shailee is my type", he ends up marrying the "homely" Saumya. Well, if the love triangle wasn't enough, we have one more member to join the chaotic gang, the police officer Kajol. She is no-nonsense and yes-witty throughout the film!

The film also has two issues to deal with. First is the death of the twin girls' mothers when they were eight. And the second is the tale of domestic violence. These are entangled in a tighter thread than you may think throughout the movie.

What I liked

In one word, Kajol! She fires up the scene at every arrival. Often torn between her father's vision of going by the rules and her mother's vision of going by the spirit, she finds herself stuck. "Fasna (being stuck) meri speciality hai," she says. In between Kriti's twin role which shifts personalities frequently and Shaheer's dilemmatic choices in love and aggression, she is clear in her head and provides some clarity to the viewers. It was also interesting to watch Kriti Sanon pour her heart into both characters with conviction, something that made me sit through the film. Shaheer, too, did justify his chocolate boy turned villain character in his important outing as a male lead. 

The film also portrays a strong show in the end following the lines of "a silent observer is a supporter" when talking about domestic violence. 

What I didn't like

While the film attempts to attack the patriarchal institution, it also normalises certain behaviours and quotes that become problematic and perpetuate stereotypes. It is no lie that Shaheer Sheikh is a dreamy handsome hunk. But Kajol, calling him a "chocolate boy" to say he is dumb didn't sit quite with me. At the end of the film, when Dhruv overlooks an important detail and misses to quote it in the court proceedings, Kajol calls him "chocolate boy" and pulls his cheek.

Another perpetuation comes from Seeta and Geeta. Their characters feed into the age-old idiotic perception that homely, shy, and good-natured girls are the ones having long hair, no make-up, wearing kurtas and talking while looking down and vice versa. They take this comparison to a whole new level where Shailee, the evil-dark-kohled sister tries to steal away poor Saumya's love interest. And did we mention there was a scene where Saumya and Shailee were compared to a glass of sherbet and wine respectively; that was hard for me to watch!

All in all, I wish the film wasn't as scattered. Having said that, I did enjoy the performances by all actors. They went all in and showed us a different side to their acting prowess.  

Do Patti is now streaming on Netflix.

Views expressed are the author's own.