There have been films and films on identical twins. Ram Aur Shyam, Seeta Aur Geeta, Dhoom 3, Tanu Weds Manu 2 and Kaminey, among others. And Kirti Sanon-Kajol-headlined Do Patti—now on Netflix—has nothing novel to offer treading the same path as the other movies have in this genre. I really wish writer Kanika Dhillon had made an effort to get out of this beaten rut.
Helmed by Shashanka Chaturvedi, his work is set in picture postcard towns of Manali and Mussoorie with their mist-swept landscape and tiny houses dotting, in all their allure, the mountain slopes. I must give it to cinematographer Mart Ratassepp for turning what probably is a dreary place into something amazingly ethereal.
Kirti Sanon essays both twins Saumya Sood and Shailee Sood, and even as children, one of them shows the classic signs of a bully terrorising the other meeker girl. And into this dual mishmash walks Dhruv Sood (Shaheer Sheikh), and both women are besotted with him. He picks Saumya, the docile, homely woman, much to the jealousy and chagrin of the other, Shailee.
To me, what seemed a wee bit of interest was that the real villain was not Shailee but Dhruv, who turns out to be a vicious wife beater. Come on, this is the 21st century, and I cannot believe that a pretty young woman would let the man brutalise her, and certainly not when Kajol’s cop Vidya Jyoti Kanwar is prowling around suspecting something evil going on in the palatial mansion that is home to Dhruv, his wife and sister-in-law.
Kirti is passable, though she does not quite succeed in getting the contrasting nature of the twins under her thumb, and the film begins to look uneasily flat. Shaheer tries the macho robe but disappoints with his blank expressions. And wasting an excellent actress like Kajol in an inane role is criminal.
In short, Do Patti is far below standard with a script that is far worse.
The writer is a senior movie critic and author