Kajol and Kriti Sanon in Indian Netflix Drama

Do Patti (Two Playing cards) is a movie with an identification disaster, in that neither director Shashanka Chaturvedi nor author/co-producer Kanika Dhillon appear to be solely positive of its major intuition.

Is it a twisted story of an identical twins, one good and one dangerous? Or is it yet one more hill station thriller? (For some cause, streaming platforms appear enamored with these — consider Netflix’s Aranyak or Mrs. Serial Killer, Voot’s Sweet or ZEE5’s Rautu Ka Raaz. Maybe the hope is that the beauteous mountain views will distract from the bumpy storytelling.)

Is that this an impassioned plea towards home violence, or a courtroom drama during which it’s troublesome to determine who performed whom? Is it an exploration of the character of justice, and of whether or not the letter of the legislation or the spirit of the legislation is extra essential?

Do Patti makes an attempt to be all of those, however finally ends up being largely a large number.

When Dhillon, who can also be the architect of Netflix’s Haseen Dillruba franchise, was requested in an interview what a Kanika Dhillon girl is, she replied that her characters embody energy, vulnerability and complexity, that they’re nuanced and actual characters. Whereas this was true for Rumi in Manmarziyaan and Bobby in Judgementall Hai Kya and even to an extent for Rani in Haseen Dillruba, these traits elude each Saumya and Shailee, the twins performed by Kriti Sanon in Do Patti.

It’s straightforward to see why Sanon, additionally a co-producer, selected Do Patti because the function debut for her manufacturing home, Blue Butterfly Movies. The twin function presents her a chance to point out her vary — from the timid, tremulous Saumya, who suffers from nervousness and melancholy, to the provocative, vindictive Shailee, who will seemingly do no matter it takes to one-up her sister — and Sanon goes at each elements with gumption and sincerity.

However this film simply isn’t as good because it thinks it’s. The trope of twins who bodily look the identical however have distinctly completely different personalities has been a staple of Hindi cinema for many years. Dilip Kumar set the gold normal with Ram Aur Shyam almost 60 years in the past; Hema Malini solidified her star standing with an outstanding double flip in Seeta Aur Geeta (which Do Patti references in dialogue); after which the fabulous Sridevi performed each Anju and Manju in ChaalBaaz.

With Do Patti, nonetheless, Dhillon appears to take inspiration from 1971’s Sharmeelee, during which Rakhee performed Kanchan and Kamini — one vivacious, extroverted and extra Westernized, and the opposite docile, shy and wearing Indian garments. No prizes for guessing which one seems to be depraved and which one ultimately will get the man.

Fifty-three years later, the signifiers for good and dangerous are the identical. Shailee loves ingesting, smoking and revealing garments; she will’t resist baring her midriff even whereas giving testimony in court docket. Saumya, in fact, refrains from all of this. Each sisters are besotted with Dhruv (Shaheer Sheikh), the scion of a rich politician, though it’s not possible to know why — he does horrible issues, particularly to Saumya. Whereas Sheik exhibits some spark, he, like the remainder of the solid, is let down by the script.

With a view to boost this clichéd plot, Dhillon provides an unreliable narrator in Maaji, the sisters’ childhood nanny. Actor Tanvi Azmi is so strong within the half that she salvages even the silliest scenes. In a single, she presents Dhruv two glasses of sherbet and, when he reaches for one, appears to be like at him meaningfully and suggests he may be making a mistake in his selection.

However the worst served by the writing is Kajol, in her first cop function. Named Vidya Jyothi (which means “a beacon of information and light-weight”), the character is a single girl decided to deliver order and justice to the sleepy fictional hamlet of Devipur. Although the character has an arc, as she investigates an accusation of homicide towards Dhruv, it performs out solely on a superficial stage. Apart from one scene during which Vidya is attacked, giving us a glimpse of her vulnerability, she is generally a one-note character.

Conveniently, Vidya has a legislation diploma, and continues combating the case as a lawyer in court docket. A fast Google search reveals that an Indian Police Service officer in reality can’t be an advocate, since advocates should not allowed to be full time salaried workers of the federal government. 

However Do Patti has little regard for details and even cursory logic. Vidya’s Haryanvi accent comes and goes. Paragliding performs a pivotal function within the plot, however the CGI is so clumsy that it’s not possible to consider that any of these characters are literally within the air. Maybe the unkindest reduce, nonetheless, is the predictable climactic twist. This confused movie stays confused until the tip.