Kriti Sanon and Kajol in ‘Do Patti’
Having engendered the greatest spoiler line in Hindi pop culture — Kajol is the killer, from the 1997 mystery Gupt — the actor, in her forthcoming Netflix thriller Do Patti, is resigned to catching one. It is an attempted murder case, the fallout of a stormy love triangle involving a pair of identical twin sisters, both played by Kriti Sanon. The film is written and co-produced by Kanika Dhillon, a passionate surveyor of the female psyche, and directed by debutant Shashanka Chaturvedi.
“Spoiler alerts aren’t in order for Do Patti,” laughs Kajol, who, in her decades-long career, is playing a cop for the first time. “The whole idea is to make you completely confused when you watch this film. We want you to go back to scenes, to keep wondering what happens next.”
The film, recounts Dhillon, took shape when she met Sanon to discuss a potential collaboration. She had finished writing Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba and had the crux of a fresh story to pitch. Later, they decided to co-produce under their respective banners, Katha Pictures and Blue Butterfly Films respectively. This is Sanon’s debut outing as a producer. “The film has twists and turns with a lot of drama and rivalry but at the core of it, it does talk about an important issue I personally felt for,” Sanon says. “I’m hoping it will stay with audiences and also move them to tears.”
Kriti Sanon in a still from ‘Do Patti’
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Special Arrangement
The twin sister act is a classic of comedies and crime fiction. Kajol, who gushes about Sridevi’s Chaalbaaz (1989), herself has two bona fide double roles in her filmography, Dushman (1998) and Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi (2001). She praises Sanon for her distinctive rendering of the sedate Saumya and the seductive Shailee in Do Patti.
“Kriti has come far since Dilwale,” Kajol says. “There has been a wonderful growth spurt in her filmography. It was amazing to witness her transform from one character to the other in this film.”
“Traditionally, in such movies, the two sisters have a separate journey and they end up meeting towards the end,” Sanon notes. “But here 70% to 80% of my scenes were with Saumya and Shailee in the same frame.” The technology of shooting double or multiple roles has evolved over the decades, Kajol says. It has gone from incorporating rudimentary split-screen techniques to using motion control and now CGI.
“In the early days, they would put scotch tape in the centre of the set and block off half the camera. I had to act out half the scene then walk over to shoot the second portion. Also, the camera couldn’t move.”
“In certain cases it still can’t,” Sanon adds.
Do Patti was shot in Manali, Dehradun and Mumbai. In the film, the insular hilltown setting is identified as ‘Devipur’. Past Netflix titles have been set in similarly fictitious towns: Onkara, Jwalapur, and Sironah. Dhillon puts it down to ‘creative liberty’, although, given the range of absurd controversies the streamer seems to attract, it could equally be an act of caution.
Kajol in ‘Do Patti’
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Special Arrangement
Monika Shergill, the India content head of Netflix, maintains there is no such mandate to fictionalise real settings. “It depends,” she says. “If we are doing a factual story inspired by true incidents, we base them where they are. Otherwise, it’s always simpler to have a fictional name because you can set up the town as you want. Also, in this case, everyone knows it’s Manali.”
Dhillon, who has created fascinating (and fascinatingly grey) female characters in films like Manmariyaan, Judgementall Hai Kya and the Haseen Dilruba duology, describes her writing process as ‘therapy’. “Since my first film as a screenwriter, every female character of mine has been discussed, dissected, loved and even hated on certain occasions; which for an artiste is a big victory. It means audiences are ready to witness the complex dimensions of a personality.”
At Netflix, Shergill adds, the idea is to empower female voices at all levels of the creative process. “Women are 50% of the world yet under-represented in entertainment. When you are able to generate a sense of equity and balance, with projects like Do Patti, it just feels right.”
Do Patti will stream on Netflix from October 25
Published – October 17, 2024 12:44 pm IST
