At some point, we have all found the type of duplicate men who would ribly hit their wives, attack all possible women, exercise their domain and, nevertheless, they would be called feminist that “respect women.” They will not even deny their absurd acts and blame the victim for triggering them or making fun of their hopelessness. These men, whose actions are often overloading for their own deficiencies and dysfunctions, can be found in each stratum of society.
The last original Netflix film, Do Patti, brings us to one of those men in Dhruv Sood (Shaheer Sheikh) from a small city of the hill, which regularly hits his traumatized wife Saumya (Kriti Sanon). The film begins with a paraglide that went wrong, while the couple hangs in the air for their lives of their glider. Saumya, who thinks that her husband has sabotado her harness, begs her for her life. When rescuing, Saumya tells Inspector Vidya Jyothi (Kajol) that her husband tried to kill her, and led us to a setback sequence three months ago, when the two met for the first time.
Saumya is introduced as an anxious introvert, who has been in severe depression since his parents died. Now living with an alcoholic caregiver, he suffers in silence of several phobias and traumas. He also has a tumultuous relationship with his twin sister Shailee, who was sent to a shelter due to his abusive behavior towards Saumya, only to return in time to interfere with his love life.
An important defect that retains Do Patti is the incoherent plot and its fluctuating tone. Some of the scenes are intense and leave a lasting impact; Others are simply stuffed that do not add anything significant to history. A thriller is supposed to constantly keep the spectators alert and carefully configure the pieces before pulling the carpet. However, Patti cannot keep that iron grip in his plot.
The film, for example, wasted a lot of time in the establishment of the character of Kajol. She plays an idealistic policeman who speaks in the stereotyped idea of Bollywood of what is supposed to be an accent from the interior: it is neither Hindi nor Haryanvi or Bhojpuri. Can we stop with the lazy subaltern cartoon?
At one point, he begins to feel that the writers were so made by Kajol that they forgot to add meat to their role and hoped that they would take the character with his natural charism. Vidya Jyothi of Kajol, who goes through “VJ”, is silly, near his popular papers in romantic comedies, instead of being a serious police. While Kajol has done everything possible to fulfill any little to be given, the fault falls to the writers to underutilize a refined actor like her. If you are not his fan, his arc of history will feel stretched on several occasions.
Another area where the film fails is its stereotyped and regressive representation of its female characters. Sanon’s twin sister is shown as a loose woman, who drinks, has short hair, uses seductive outfits, goes to discos and flirts with men. Why do we continue to stick to these idiots tropes in 2024 and feed the patriarchal beast? Shailee is painted with a unique brush, and there are no other tones in her character. It is supposed to be villain and intriguing, so, of course, it is not in line with what our “culture” considers fair. Or is it to be labeled automatically by evil just because he drinks or likes to dress? While extremely introverted behavior of Saumya can be attributed to its trauma, the film could, and in fact, should have avoided the Shailee version of the witchcraft.
Despite its defects, the film does a good job in its representation of patriarchy, violence against women, childhood trauma and its deep impact. In a disturbing scene of the film, we see Dhruv brutally surpassing Saumya. He pulls his hair, kicks her in the bowels without mercy, rolls her like a football ball, the strip on the stairs and leaves her soaked on the floor. In the end, the typical declaration of “why you triggered my anger” is quickly thrown.
The whole sequence has a good performance and boils the blood to the extent that you feel like entering the screen and hitting the Sheikh character. While it is disturbing and can be triggered for the victims of abuse, it is also one of the most powerful scenes of the film. Not only shows the brutality of domestic violence against women, but also the sick and twisted psyche of the monsters that perpetrate abuse.
The film also has some incredible performances, especially from Sanon and Sheikh. Sanon has done a brilliant job by performing dual roles and is equally convincing in both. His characters have been carefully written, infused with the smallest aspects of human behavior in consideration. There is a scene in which Saumya is pushed to paragliding for the first time, despite having severe acrophobia, already half of the activity, he has crying eyes thinking about his dead mother. It is such a moving representation of how the pain that one could be carrying can unconsciously explode with even the slightest thrust, reminding us that all this was waiting under the surface while. Although the national award -winning actor has offered some impressive actions before, especially in Mimi, it has been overcome in this Netflix original.
The way Patti manages and portrays the issues of childhood trauma, sister rivalries, domestic violence, abuse and objectification of women is quite impressive. I intimately explore the smallest details of these difficult issues, complemented by bright actions. However, the brightness comes in patches. If only the film had a better rhythm or a constant impulse during its execution time, and avoid harmful stereotypes, would have done justice to the important issues to explore. The films that deal with such sensitive themes should be more captivating to attract a broader audience. Do Patti manages his subject in an impressive way: he has its intentions in the right place. But struggle to settle as a good thriller.
Qualification: 6.5/10
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