Do Patti Movie Star Cast/ Actors: Kajol as Vidya VJ Jyothi, Kriti Sanon as Saumya Sood / Shailee Sood, Shaheer Sheikh as Dhruv Sood, Tanvi Azmi, Brijendra Kala, Vivek Mushran, Prachee Shah Paandya
Do Patti Movie Director: Shashanka Chaturvedi
Do Patti Movie Release Date: October 25, 2024
Do Patti Movie Available On: Netflix OTT Platform
Do Patti Movie Released/ Available In Languages: Hindi
Do Patti Movie Runtime: 127 Minutes
Do Patti Movie Critic Review:
Is domestic abuse a hush-hush family matter or a crime against society?
Is a judge who goes by the word of law (and evidence) dispensing true justice or is a lawyer who looks at the spirit of the law more inclined towards social good?
At the end of a disturbing narration where nothing seems to be what it is, writer Kanika Dhillon (story, screenplay, dialogues) opens up an important but inconvenient debate that brings abuse out of the four walls of the house.
Identical twins Saumya and Shailee (Kriti Sanon) and their nanny-turned-mom (Tanvi Azmi) who’s caught between the dissimilar personalities of the two siblings, keep cop woman Vidya Jyothi Kanwar (Kajol) on her toes. The hill station of Devipur is turned upside down with the arrival of entitled businessman Dhruv Sood (Shaheer Sheikh), owner of an adventure sports company. “Paragliding is not an adventure sport, it’s a dating sport,” quips Dhruv as he floors both sisters.
There are some obviously laboured lines. The nanny-turned-Amma serves a drink to Dhruv from out of the blue with two different glasses on the tray. It facilitates the line, “Are you sure you’re not making a mistake with your choice, Dhruv?” He chooses. Also abuses.
Saumya, victim of domestic abuse, won’t file a complaint.
Shailee, the spirited ‘bad girl’ (drinking, partying, flirting), is no innocent bystander. She turns up in the same outfit as the bride to upstage Saumya at her wedding to Dhruv, even moves into the couple’s house to stir more trouble.
Amma who’s brought up the girls after the death of their mother (Prachee Shah Pandya) eggs VJ to do what’s right, go after Dhruv.
VJ’s senior Lalit Sir (Pankaj Saraswat) warns her not to lose focus. Especially with the Soods complaining that VJ is obsessively poking her nose into their family.
Constable Katoch (Brajesh Kala), VJ’s Man Friday, is her sounding board.
VJ’s profile comes out through dialogues. She’s single, she drove her fiance away, years ago. She once put her brother in jail because the law must be upheld. VJ’s father was a judge, a believer in the rule book. She follows in his footsteps.
The dramatis personae would be incomplete without an orphaned rabbit – VJ must find a permanent home for the abandoned pet. Justice must prevail for all beings.
After ticking all the boxes, director Shashanka Chaturvedi creates a noisy world, using the technique of non-stop chatter in the background while the film unspools. With the chatter going on even when you hit the pause button, it takes more than a while to get used to it. I checked my TV too, to see if there was an audio problem. At one stage, during a sequence of domestic abuse, Shashanka has the BG chatter plus a Punjabi song, making it three
different tracks going on simultaneously. If you can take the chaotic audio experiment, there is a debate to take home at the end.
The narration has staccato moments that are not smoothly blended in. Dhruv has a criminal trail to be followed in Haryana. It’s written in like Haryana is in Timbuctoo and Devipur cops can’t get info on his past until VJ goes to the state. Inexplicably, somebody provokes VJ in a bar in Haryana and equally suddenly, there’s a jeep chase where she has to pull out her gun. It’s like Kajol must necessarily be given more layers to justify her presence in the film. It’s not organic especially since the Singham-type macho BG for her, the sinister BG for Shailee and the sad songs for Saumya seem too calculated.
VJ does have her moment in court which justifies Kajol’s presence, as the cop also dons the lawyer’s robes to fight for justice for Saumya. And it is VJ who closes her investigations with a debate on the word of law versus true justice.
What is non-debatable is Kanika Dhillon’s final statement – domestic abuse is a societal crime.
Statistics on one-third of women having experienced some form of domestic abuse and the majority going unreported, make the statement grim. Even if the shakily introduced debate could go on forever.
Kajol has the gravitas to pull off justice-seeking VJ. Kriti Sanon moves from mousy Seeta to ballsy Geeta with ease.
Do Patti Movie – Watch Or Not?: If you can get used to a chaotic BG, you could pick up a question that may
be debated beyond the dinner table.
Do Patti Movie Review Score Rating: 2.5 out of 5 (i.e. 2.5/5)
Do Patti Movie Official Trailer:
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