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Movie Review: Greater Kalesh (2025)

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2.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Netflix’s enjoyable Diwali movie Greater Kalesh has real affection for its characters and doesn’t overstay its welcome. Director Aditya Chandiok and writer Ritu Mago wisely opted to make their film a “featurette” with a runtime of under one hour rather than try to stretch too small a story to feature length.

Twenty-something Twinkle Handa (Ahsaas Channa) returns to her family home in Delhi to surprise her parents — dad Ranjan (Happy Ranajit) and mom Sunita (Supriya Shukla) — and younger brother Ankush (Poojan Chhabra) for Diwali. Before she can even open the door, she hears the sounds of arguing and pottery breaking.

Her folks are certainly surprised to see her, and happy as well. They try to pretend that their argument was nothing serious, but Ankush spills the beans. Turns out, the Handas don’t actually own their house. They’ve lived in it for free for almost 30 years due to a deal with Ranjan’s business partner, but now the real owner wants to sell. The family is about to be homeless.

Also, the whole neighborhood knows about Ankush’s “secret” relationship with an older woman, and Mom is sick of being gossiped about. She’s planning to move to Bangalore to live with Twinkle, which is news to Twinkle, of course.

Twinkle is furious with everyone for hiding things from her, ignoring her own hypocrisy for not telling her family her own secret: she has a serious boyfriend. Fueled by anger, Twinkle sets about trying to fix everyone’s problems, whether they like it or not — which is probably why everyone was so reluctant to tell her anything in the first place.

Chandiok and Mago do a wonderful job portraying a family in a very specific stage of development. Both of the kids are adults, and Twinkle even lives independently, yet no one has an accurate perception of how mature the kids actually are. Twinkle overestimates her worldliness, while the parents still try to shield their kids from their problems. Relationships within the Handa family are evolving in ways none of them really understand, and the changing dynamic hits a boiling point during their Diwali party.

The cast does a fine job making the family relatable. While plots driven by unnecessary secrets can sometimes drag, the actors successfully convey why every character feels like secrecy is their best option. Other than a silly subplot about a thief slowly making off with the family’s sentimental valuables, everyone acts in a way that is understandable.

The knock against Greater Kalesh is that it has a tendency toward soapiness. From Twinkle’s voiceovers to the musical cues to the lighting, all of it makes the film cornier than it needs to be. Thankfully, the filmmakers knew just how much story they had, and the movie ends before the soapy style gets too grating.

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Movie Review: Baramulla (2025)

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1.5 Stars (out of 4)

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The dread in Baramulla builds slowly. It has nothing to do with the missing children or the creepy house filled with strange noises and shadowy figures. By the time an onscreen dedication rolls after the climax, one’s worst fears are confirmed: the goal of this film isn’t to tell an interesting story but to push an agenda.

Baramulla takes place in the titular city in Jammu and Kashmir in 2016. Controversial Deputy Superintendent of Police Ridwaan Sayyed (Manav Kaul) is transferred to the town after some yet-unspecified negative experience necessitated a change of scenery. He arrives with his wife Gulnaar (Bhasha Sumbli), teenage daughter Noorie (Arista Mehta), and young son Ayaan (Singh Rohaan).

The house they’re put up in is spooky as all get out, with furnishings unchanged for decades. It’s massive, with two decaying wings on either side of the main building the family occupies. From the moment they arrive, everyone but Ridwaan hears unsettling sounds, sees eerie shadows, and smells weird smells that can’t be explained.

Ridwaan is too busy with work to pay attention to his family. A boy named Shoaib disappeared during a magic show at a carnival. The cops and the boy’s father — a former politician with plenty of enemies — would prefer to blame the magician, but Ridwaan isn’t convinced. No one has sent a ransom demand, and a lock of Shoaib’s hair was found in the magician’s “disappearing” trunk. If the mage had given the boy a haircut mid-performance, there would’ve been dozens of witnesses.

Ridwaan has worked in Jammu and Kashmir long enough to appreciate the factors complicating his investigation. Politics are fraught, there are militants about, and absolutely everyone distrusts the police. But it takes more disappearances and unusual occurrences for him to accept that his perpetrator could be undead.

The setup is compelling but it isn’t sufficiently fleshed out. The taciturn characters are indistinct. Ridwaan and Noorie are supposedly in a major tiff that predates their move to Baramulla, but it doesn’t feel any different from typical teenage drama. Yet when it’s revealed what led to the frosty father-daughter relationship, it’s so terrible that it makes the characters relatively blasé behavior look bizarre in retrospect.

Director Aditya Suhas Jambhale (Article 370) — who co-wrote the film with his Article 370 producer Aditya Dhar — glosses over relationships and eschews character development. Those foundational storytelling elements are secondary to the mission: making ragebait.

Global viewers who aren’t familiar with the history of the region won’t get a lot of context from Baramulla. The film was clearly written around the post-climax on-screen dedication (which I won’t quote so as to not spoil the film). There’s nothing new about using real-world tragedy as inspiration, but Jambhale and Dhar seem to think that just doing so is enough, regardless of how well it’s integrated into the present-day story they’re telling.

The laxness about the present-day storyline is most evident in the rules governing the supernatural in Baramulla, or lack thereof. Ghosts in stories are often tied to specific locations or individuals. In Baramulla, they can be anywhere — not for any world-building reasons, but simply for plot convenience.

The climax also reinforces a pernicious thread within the film: the idea that Muslim children are all potential militants and therefore not to be trusted. Further, despite their still-developing brains, Muslim children are to be held to the same (if not higher) moral standards as adults. They are not considered victims of radicalization but equal participants.

I feel like I write this a lot, but Baramulla has all the components of a good movie. Shown through a different perspective by someone with more experience with the genre, this could’ve made a powerful emotional impact. As it is, all I can be is disappointed.

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Movie Review: Inspector Zende (2025)

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3 Stars (out of 4)

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1970s serial killer Charles Sobhraj is a popular entertainment subject for a reason. He used his charisma to recruit followers to help him steal money and murder tourists across Southeast Asia to fund his lavish lifestyle. He earned the colorful nickname “The Bikini Killer” due the attire several of his victims were wearing when they were discovered deceased.

Inspector Zende turns the lens away from the flashy criminal and onto the police officer who caught him — not once, but twice. Perfectly-cast lead actors make the most of an amusing comedy that loses steam as it goes along.

Inspector Madhukar Zende is played by Manoj Bajpayee. The character is based on a real person — who makes a cameo at the end of the film — and uses his real name. To make it clear that this is a fictional story and not strictly biographical, debutant Hindi writer-director Chinmay Mandlekar changes the villain’s name from Charles Sobhraj to “The Swimsuit Killer” Carl Bojhraj (played by Jim Sarbh).

Zende first apprehended Bojhraj in India back in 1971, when the criminal specialized in fraud and property crimes. After escaping from various international prisons over the years, Bohjraj breaks out of Tihar Jail in Delhi in 1986 after drugging the dessert he served to prisoners and guards to celebrate his birthday (it wasn’t even his actual birthday).

Immediately, Zende knows that he has to be the one to capture Bojhraj. He knows how Bojhraj thinks and where he’s likely to be. But a lot has changed in the 15 years since he first caught the villain. Zende is older, and he has responsibilities he didn’t back then, namely a wife Viju (Girija Oak) and a couple of kids. Viju — whom he affectionately calls “The Commissioner at Home” — wonders why someone else can’t catch the escaped killer.

The sweet, flirty relationship between Zende and Viju is a real highlight of the film. According to an interview Bajpayee did with the real Madhukar Zende for Netflix India’s YouTube channel, this part of the story is absolutely true. Zende’s family is more important than his sense of professional pride.

But Zende holds himself to high moral standards that are worth quoting directly: “One who does not commit injustices on others is a noble man. One who does not let others do injustice to himself is a good man. One who stops injustice from happening to others is a true man.” (Credit to Natasha Acharya for the great English subtitles.) Zende can’t be a “true man” if he leaves this task to others, potentially allowing innocent people to get hurt in the process.

Acknowledging this older, less agile Zende enables the film to take on a more lighthearted, humorous tone. What Zende lacks in speed he makes up for in guile. Not that his hand-picked crew of fellow cops are in prime shape either, be it his humorless second-in-command Jacob (Harish Dudhade) or his bumbling assistant Patil (Bhalchandra Kadam). The inspectors need more smarts than strength as they follow Bojhraj’s tracks across Mumbai and eventually to the international tourist hotspot Goa.

For movie fans like me who are happy to watch Bajpayee and Sarbh in just about anything, Inspector Zende delivers. Bajpayee finds the right mix of earnestness and playfulness for a movie that is supposed to be fun, despite its grim inspiration.

Sarbh’s performance adds to that sense of humor while still making Bhojraj dangerous. The killer’s foreign origins and taste for luxury means that Sarbh plays the role with a French accent and wearing a wig that evokes Prince on the cover of his self-titled 1979 album. It’s an amusing persona, but appropriate for the character.

The trap Mandlekar falls into with his first feature directorial is making a comedy that overstays its welcome. Some of the film’s best physical comedy is saved for a climax that arrives ten to fifteen minutes after the movie should have ended, and the bit doesn’t land as well as it should as a result.

Still, there’s more than enough going for Inspector Zende to warrant a watch. And writing an Indian police officer character who sees himself as a protector of the innocent rather than a one-man judge, jury, and executioner is a refreshing change of pace. We need more of this.

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Streaming Video News: September 5, 2025

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I updated my list of Bollywood movies on Netflix with today’s premiere of the Original Hindi film Inspector Zende, starring Manoj Bajpayee and Jim Sarbh. I enjoyed Inspector Zende, but if you’re not sure if this crime comedy is for you, check out my Inspector Zende preview for What’s on Netflix.

The latest Netflix expiration news is that all versions of Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion are leaving on September 30. The combined Baahubali: The Epic hits theaters October 31, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that has something to do with the Netflix removal.

I also updated my list of Bollywood movies on Amazon Prime with yesterday’s streaming debut of Rajkummar Rao’s action film Maalik.

If that’s not enough to watch this weekend, the Vikrant Massey-Shanaya Kapoor romance Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan is now streaming on ZEE5.

[Disclaimer: my Amazon links include an affiliate tag, and I may earn a commission on purchases made via those links. Thanks for helping to support this website!]

Movie Review: Aap Jaisa Koi (2025)

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3 Stars (out of 4)

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R. Madhavan and Fatima Sana Shaikh play two lonely singles on the bumpy road of love in the romantic comedy-drama Aap Jaisa Koi (“Someone Like You“). Despite a few hiccups, director Vivek Soni’s film is exactly the kind of movie Netflix India needs more of.

Madhavan stars as Shrirenu Tripathi, a high school Sanskrit teacher in Jamshedpur. A misguided attempt at courtship in his teenage years resulted in the target of Shri’s affections cursing him to be forever single — a curse that appears to have worked. Shri’s a 42-year-old virgin who’s been turned down by every woman who’s ever seen his matchmaking bio-data sheet.

When even Shri’s students — lead by class clown Rakesh (Sachin Kavetham) — start teasing him about his nonexistent love life, he takes action. Shri’s roommate and best friend Deepu (Namit Das) gets Shri on a sex chatting app, figuring Shri might be more confident over the phone than face-to-face. Shri talks to an unnamed woman who is charmed by his lack of guile. When she asks, “What’s your love language?” he replies, “Sanskrit.”

Days later, Shri’s brother’s neighbor Joy brings a marriage proposal for Shri. Joy’s 32-year-old niece Madhu Bose (Shaikh) is interested in him. She teaches French in Kolkata, she’s never been married, and she’s beautiful. She sounds too good to be true, but a covert investigation by Deepu and Rakesh turns up nothing scandalous. Shri and Madhu love spending time with each other and are quickly engaged.

To this point, Aap Jaisa Koi is a cute movie peppered with delightful song picturizations. It’s easy to enjoy and feels like a throwback to movies from decades ago. We know there has to be a problem to fix in the second half, but things are going so well, it’s not clear what the problem could be.

A conflict between Shri and Madhu reveals a problematic ideology simmering under the surface of the story. In his life, Shri is surrounded by men. His roommate is a guy, he teaches at an all-boys school, and his brother Bhanu (Manish Chaudhari) rules his household. Even though Shri adores his sister-in-law Kusum (Ayesha Raza Mishra) and his adult niece, he watches in silence as Bhanu routinely denigrates both women and forbids them from pursuing their passions.

Shri’s environment is nothing like Madhu’s house, where she lives with her doting grandmother, loving parents, and supportive aunts and uncles. It’s a shame that the film doesn’t afford Kusum any female friends, but she’s surrounded by plenty of open-minded well-wishers.

The main characters’ contrasting social spheres highlight the dangers of rigid gender separation. Shri has so little experience dealing with women he’s not related to that he doesn’t realize how he’s negatively influenced by the men around him. When he voices his concerns, it’s to the same men who believe women should be virgins before marriage and shouldn’t work outside the home.

Though Soni’s film — based on a screenplay by Radhika Anand and Jehan Handa — is message-driven, I’m not gonna complain when the message is: “Don’t be an incel.” To the story’s credit, the conflict resolves in an unexpected, yet believable way. Shri digs himself a deep hole, but the way he gets out is ultimately satisfying.

The story is helped by quality performances by the whole cast, especially the leads. Madhavan is always watchable, and he makes Shri a guy who’s unduly insecure. Shaikh is particularly good, conveying so much emotion with the slightest change of expression.

Aap Jaisa Koi draws on a long history of “woman teaches man not to be a dumbass” films, but it distinguishes itself through a refined blend of classic stylistic choices and modern relationship drama.

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Movie Review: Test (2025)

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2 Stars (out of 4)

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The Netflix Original Tamil movie Test has an identity problem. Trim 45 minutes, and you’ve got a taut thriller film. Add 90 minutes, and you get a dramatic series about complex characters. As it is, the movie is poorly paced and bloated with material that doesn’t square with the characters’ actions.

At the center of the story is Arjun (Siddharth), a professional cricketer whose career is coming to an end. He’s not ready for that, but he’s in a slump. The national team tries to force him into retirement just before a big match in Chennai against Pakistan, but Arjun leverages his stardom to buy time. Still, he knows this is likely his last hurrah.

Arjun doesn’t know who he is without cricket, but he’s got a life waiting for him in retirement. He and his wife Padma (Meera Jasmine) have an elementary-school-aged son Adi (Lirish Rahav) who’s desperate for his father’s attention.

When Adi struggles at school, it’s not his parents who comfort him but his teacher, Kumudha (Nayanthara). She’s a little too involved in her students’ lives, compensating for her struggle to have a baby of her own. She’s also a childhood friend of Arjun’s, though he ignores her.

While Kumudha focuses on her fertility issues, her husband Saravanan (R Madhavan) tries to find an investor for his hydrogen fuel cell invention. He’s been lying to Kumudha about having a job running a canteen, and now he’s in debt to loan sharks. If he could just secure a contract with the government, he believes all his problems would be solved — he can finally be the next Steve Jobs.

The three main characters have problems they’re trying to address individually, but it takes a very long time before the main conflict at the heart of the narrative is revealed. The inciting incident doesn’t happen until the movie is halfway over, at which point the tone shifts from low-key relationship drama into thriller territory.

Despite the long buildup, there’s little to justify why things happen the way they do. The marketing for Test bills it as a story about choices, but the choices the characters make don’t always follow from what we’ve been shown about them. I suppose the question producer-turned director S. Sashikanth is asking is what one would do when a golden opportunity presents itself. Based on what he’s shown of the characters, the answer is: not what the characters do.

For a movie with such an all-star cast, the acting is kind of flat. R Madhavan gets to chew some scenery, but it’s a long time before he does. Siddharth plays Arjun as so self-focused that he shuts out the audience as much as the people around him. Other than one tear-filled sequence, Nayanthara’s Kumudha is pretty one-note.

The standout performer is Meera Jasmine, who makes her return to Tamil cinema after more than a decade. She plays Padma as her family’s pillar of strength, the one holding everything and everyone together. It’s not a flashy performance, but it feels right for the character. Also, kudos to little Lirish Rahav, who plays Adi as a bit of a brat, but for understandable reasons.

Had Test been structured as a series, there would have been more time to show gradual character evolution — and to better integrate a subplot about the police following the loan sharks. On the flip side, shortening the film’s runtime would have added urgency to the story and made the stakes clearer earlier. As it is, Test is watchable but forgettable.

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Movie Review: Nadaaniyan (2025)

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1 Star (out of 4)

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Producer Karan Johar serves up fresh talent in the stalest of offerings — the youthful romantic comedy Nadaaniyan (“Innocence“).

Sridevi’s youngest daughter Khushi Kapoor plays rich girl Pia Jaisingh, who’s in a rough spot as she starts her senior year at an elite Delhi boarding school. Her friends Sahira (Aaliyah Qureishi) and Rhea (Apoorva Makhija) are mad at her for ignoring them all summer and failing to disclose that Sahira’s crush Ayaan (Dev Agasteya) was sending flirty text messages. Pia’s solution? Invent a fake boyfriend.

Thankfully, hunky Arjun Mehta (Ibrahim Ali Khan, son of Saif Ali Khan) just transferred to the school. His dad Sanjay (Jugal Hansraj) is a doctor, and his mom Nandini (Dia Mirza) teaches at the school, making him essentially destitute, compared to his well-heeled classmates. Arjun agrees to pose as Pia’s boyfriend in exchange for money.

If this sounds like a knock-off version of Johar’s 2012 directorial Student of the Year — another star-kid launch vehicle — that’s because it mostly is. More accurately, Nadaaniyan feels cobbled together from material deemed not good enough for SOTY, left rotting on a shelf for more than a decade. For example, the school’s principal Mrs. Braganza Malhotra (Archana Puran Singh, reviving her character from 1998’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai) comically misuses youthful slang, mistaking “LOL” as meaning “lots of love.” Arjun’s big plan to get rich after he spends a half-dozen years in law school and interning is to build an app.

It’s not just that the material feels dated. It feels like it was stitched together without a care for continuity or world-building. Arjun plans to get a college athletic scholarship for swimming, but we never see him compete as a swimmer. The whole plot revolves around his debate team captaincy. Does the school even have a swim team?

The only reason Arjun’s athleticism is even mentioned is as an excuse for Khan to show his abs, which is how he becomes debate team captain (no, I’m not joking). Focusing on Khan’s and Kapoor’s physiques isn’t in itself problematic, since they’re both twenty-four, but they are playing teenagers. The camera ogles both of them in swimwear in a scene that comes before Pia’s eighteenth birthday party. If they had been written as college students, it wouldn’t feel as gross.

Of course, Arjun’s fake relationship with Pia turns into something real, especially as he builds her confidence and encourages her to dream bigger than the stereotypical girl careers like fashion that her family is pushing for. Pia’s dysfunctional family includes mom Neelu (Mahima Chaudhry), dad Rajat (Suniel Shetty), and paternal grandfather Dhanraj (Barun Chanda). The Jaisingh men are salty that Neelu could never give them a son. Neelu beats herself up for it, Rajat cheats on her, and everyone makes Pia feel like nothing more than a pretty ornament. When tensions in the Jaisingh house finally boil over, it happens so explosively that it feels out of step with the frothy tone of the rest of the film.

With three films under her belt now, Kapoor still has much to learn, but she has potential. As in The Archies, she’s shown herself an attentive performer that plays well off of others. Khan’s future is less certain. He doesn’t feel fully engaged here, though director Shauna Gautam is also partially responsible for that. The weak screenplay by Riva Razdan Kapoor, Ishita Moitra, and Jehan Handa doesn’t give anyone much to work with.

The only people who come out of Nadaaniyan looking good are Mirza and Hansraj as Arjun’s parents. There’s a real tenderness in the way they deal with their angsty son and his friends. Too bad the movie wasn’t about them.

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Movie Review: Dhoom Dhaam (2025)

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3.5 Stars (out of 4)

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Dhoom Dhaam knows exactly what it wants to be: a light romantic comedy with a touch of adventure that will make you laugh and not feel like you’ve wasted two hours. It delivers exactly that.

Yami Gautam Dhar and Pratik Gandhi star as Koyal and Veer. Their parents arranged their marriage, and they find one another attractive and accomplished enough to agree to the match. Koyal’s clingy family ensures that the couple never has a moment alone in the weeks before their wedding, but everyone seems happy with the arrangement.

Their first awkward moments alone in a hotel room on their wedding night are interrupted by a knock on the door. A pair of gun-toting tough guys barge in demanding to know where Charlie is. Neither Koyal nor Veer know anyone named Charlie, but the thugs assume they are lying.

A daring escape from their balcony reveals that Koyal is much more courageous than timid Veer. That’s further confirmed when they race away from the men in Veer’s car, and he’s more worried about getting a speeding ticket than the fact that their pursuers are shooting at them. Thankfully, Koyal is an experienced street racer.

That’s not to say that Veer is totally gutless. He’s a veterinarian, so blood doesn’t bother him. When their search for Charlie takes them to a male strip club, he does what he has to do and entertains the ravenous patrons with a cartwheel in his boxer shorts. Seeing a bunch of other women lusting after her new husband makes Koyal think that he might be a catch after all.

The action as the newlyweds race all over town is energetic, but not gruesome or too intense. This is definitely not an R-rated movie. Likewise, there isn’t a lot of heat between the couple, but their growing fondness for one another is quite sweet.

The couple’s physical awkwardness relates to the film’s theme: you can’t really know a person until you spend time with them, especially when there is such pressure to be perfect. Social media accounts and dating profiles are heavily curated. When Koyal and Veer meet for the first time, it’s in front of their whole families, with everyone on their best behavior. It’s easy to hide your true self and all your flaws under those circumstances, but it’s hard to do it forever.

What Dhoom Dhaam lacks in sparks, it makes up for in laughs. Gautam Dhar and Gandhi are both very funny and make good use of a solid script by Aditya Dhar, Aarsh Vora, and Rishab Seth, who also directed the movie. The writing team has a terrific handle on context and continuity, mining them for comedy while throwing in some delightfully absurd moments. Quality subtitles ensure that none of the humor is lost in translation.

Sequences are tightly edited, and without traditional choreographed numbers, the story moves at a fast clip. This is a movie intent on not overstaying its welcome, and Seth certainly achieves that. Dhoom Dhaam is really enjoyable.

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Most Watched Netflix Original Indian Movies of 2024

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What’s on Netflix — the great site that just published my huge Netflix Indian Originals 2025 preview — posted their guide to the most watched Netflix Original movies of 2024. Two charts separate English Original movies from non-English Original movies. Tabs allow you so see how films performed in their first, second, third, and fourth week of release.

The data is derived from Netflix’s weekly Top 10 lists, posted every Tuesday. This is a smaller subset of the data Netflix publishes every six months in its Engagement Reports, but that information obviously isn’t out for the second half of 2024. Though less comprehensive, data from the weekly Top 10 lists still gives us a good idea of which Netflix Originals were most popular — or at least most in-demand right after they released.

I’m going to look at just the results for the First Four Weeks as compiled by What’s on Netflix to see what Indian Original movies released in 2024 were the most popular. I’ve noted below which movies did not rank in the Top 10 for four full weeks after their release (or failed to chart at all). The links below go to my review of each film. Here are the Most Watched Netflix Original Indian movies of 2024:

  1. Do Patti — 17,000,000 cumulative views
  2. Sector 36 — 12,100,000 cumulative views (dropped out after 3 weeks)
  3. Maharaj — 11,600,000 cumulative views
  4. Bhakshak — 10,400,000 cumulative views (dropped out after 3 weeks)
  5. Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba — 10,100,000 cumulative views
  6. Sikandar Ka Muqaddar — 9,500,000 cumulative views (in first 3 weeks)
  7. Murder Mubarak — 6,300,000 cumulative views (dropped out after 2 weeks)
  8. Amar Singh Chamkila — 5,300,000 cumulative views (dropped out after 2 weeks)
  9. Wild Wild Punjab — 4,500,000 cumulative views (dropped out after 2 weeks)
  10. CTRL — 2,100,000 cumulative views (dropped out after 1 week)
  11. Vijay 69 — Failed to feature in the weekly Top 10

It’s no shock to find Do Patti atop the list with stars as big as Kriti Sanon and Kajol in the leading roles. Given the dark subject matter of Sector 36, I’m a little surprised to see it in second place (not that I’m complaining; it’s a great movie). Undoubtedly, news about the court case that delayed Maharaj‘s release raised awareness of the film.

Sikandar Ka Muqaddar hasn’t even been out for four weeks yet, so it’ll be fun to see if it can climb past Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba into fifth place when it completes its first month of release.

The two major disappointments on the list are Amar Singh Chamkila and CTRL, two of my favorites of the year. When the next Engagement Report comes out, I hope the data will report that they were just slow burns that got more views over time. They really are worth watching.

How did your favorite Netflix Original rank?

Movie Review: Do Patti (2024)

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1.5 Stars (out of 4)

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I’m no expert on the Indian legal system, but I’m 99% certain the events of Do Patti (“Two Cards”) could not play out the way they do in the movie.

The Netflix Original film is Kriti Sanon’s first venture as a producer, and she chose a project in which she plays a double role as identical twins Saumya and Shailee Pundir. You can tell them apart because “good” twin Saumya dresses conservatively while “bad” twin Shailee wears shorts.

The relationship between the girls has been fraught since their mother’s death when they were five. Saumya became anxious and depressed, requiring more attention from the family’s housekeeper Maaji (Tanvi Azmi). Shailee felt ignored and acted out, so their dad sent her away to boarding school. Shailee stayed away even after Dad died a few years later.

Now, as adults, shorts-wearing Shailee is determined not to let Saumya win again. When Saumya lands handsome, adventurous boyfriend Dhruv (Shaheer Sheikh), Shailee seduces him. Her efforts are thwarted when Dhruv’s rich dad threatens to cut him off if he doesn’t drop the party girl and marry someone more domestically inclined, like Saumya.

This family history is told by Maaji to Inspector VJ (Kajol), who functions as the film’s rickety narrative scaffolding. VJ is the new cop in a touristy hill town, and she’s introduced with dopey music as she and her subordinate Katoch (Brijendra Kala) argue over who’s supposed to check the fuse box when the lights go out. We get a voiceover as VJ rides her motorcycle, thinking about the differences between her “letter of the law” father and her “spirit of the law” mother.

This ethical conflict comes to bear later when Saumya accuses Dhruv of trying to kill her while they are paragliding. VJ has seen the bruises on Saumya’s face and encouraged her to report him for domestic violence before. So when Saumya is finally ready, VJ jumps at the chance to represent her in court. She’s not just a cop! She’s also a lawyer!

There’s no reason for VJ to be both investigator and attorney, other than to give Kajol more screentime. It feels gimmicky and old-fashioned, which I suppose fits with the goofball cop treatment her character gets early on. But something about the tone feels off, especially since director Shashanka Chaturvedi and writer Kanika Dhillon want to be seen as taking the issue of domestic violence seriously. Some of Dhruv’s abuse is shown in detail, and statistics at the end of the film highlight how widespread the issue is globally.

Those statistics come after a finale that is so silly that it undermines any salient points the film tries to make. The courtroom scene plays out in a way that I’m confident no Indian judge would ever allow. The corny way it tries to guide audience emotions feels outdated, and not in a nostalgic way. It’s just messy.

Dhillon’s Haseen Dillruba films for Netflix are more outlandish than Do Patti — which she co-produced — but feel more tonally consistent. Though Sanon acquits herself well in front of the camera, I wish her first turn as a producer would have been on a film with a stronger screenplay.

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