Do Patti -- twin glider

Do Patti

Hindi, 2024

Director: Kanika Dhillon

Stars: Kajol, Kriti Sanon, Shaheer Sheikh, Tanvi Azmi, Shaheer Sheikh

Mohan's Measure ⭐⭐

In a painfully graphic scene, we see a man brutally beating his wife and throwing her down a flight of stairs.  A few moments later we see the wife in tears sitting in the tub.

This schizophrenic jump from a painful topic to mass movie moments is what makes Do Patti difficult to watch.  The schism is furthered by the fact that the victim has a twin sister, who, in ways only a soap opera can describe, is simultaneously having an affair with the victim's husband, the very man doing the crime.  Her character is schizoid too, suddenly going from fearless competitor to the supporter of the protagonist in the blink of any eye.

The macabre nature of all of this is further marred because the director is constantly pulling for mass appeal of the diva Ms. Sanon, while poorly messaging us about how rampant domestic abuse is, and how important it is for people to take action,

Playing the action role, Ms. Kajol makes a strong but unimpressive effort to play the tough female cop role.  She tries to remain understated but the director seems more interested in her tirade of moral outrage.  What is worse is how she is suddenly transforms from a cop to a lawyer who is prosecuting the accused.

The abuser in question is played by a first timer, and it shows.  Mr. Sheikh is so bent on making himself out to be the classy male actor, he seems to forget he is playing a violent and frightening man.  He subdues himself even in his brutality and that fails to impress us anything than the act itself.

This plot of the film centers around, of all things, paragliding.  But, despite that, it fails to get off the ground.