Last Updated:October 31, 2024, 04:57 IST

Kanika Dhillon says Do Patti critiques attacked her in ‘cheap language’ and strongly reacts to those calling out the screenplay.

Kanika Dhillon’s Do Patti starring Kajol and Kriti Sanon opened to mixed reviews. The film themed on domestic abuse and childhood trauma was slammed by a section of the internet for its insensitive portrayal of abuse. They questioned the lack of a trigger warning and even called out its pulp-fiction like treatment and bumpy screenplay. Kanika, who wrote and co-produced Do Patti, was also at the receiving end of relentless trolling.

In an exclusive chat with News18 Showsha, she opens up on the backlash and the negativity she’s being subjected to. Talking about why they decided to hold back the subject of abuse in the trailer, which was then sprung upon the audience before the climax, she tells us, “We deliberately did so. In a message-driven film, when you start with a message outright, the audience somehow tends to view it as something that isn’t entertaining. And I don’t want to make niche films for a specific circuit.”

Defending her film, she states that the audience watched it with ‘an open mind’ and appreciated the bits that portrayed abuse. “I’ll do whatever it takes to get my film across to them so that they watch it and then see the message in it. The way it’s written and the choices that we made for the film in terms of the screenplay, the casting and the marketing are to have an audience-first approach. What I’ve been hearing is that the audience really appreciated the last 50 minutes of the film. They got so emotional,” Kanika adds.

And while Kanika reiterates that all forms of ‘creative work is open to interpretations’, she asserts that she won’t tolerate those calling out her film by taking personal digs at her. “Who are these people? We aren’t making a film for them. Anybody and everybody can be a reviewer today. Everyone has access to social media and everyone has opinions. When I see the quality of reviews today, they feel like trolls to me. I only look up to a handful of reviewers, who can write unbiased negative reviews with a fair point,” she argues.

Talking about how she has also seen critiques of Do Patti talking about her work in ‘cheap language’, the Manmarziyaan writer remarks, “I’m able to differentiate between a genuinely negative criticism and a piece jahaan pe koi khunnas khaake baitha hai. When they start criticising through personal attacks at the individual rather than the film, then they become trolls. I don’t react to half of them. You can make it from the headline if it’s a trolling piece or not. In that case, I don’t open those reviews. That’s how I keep my sanity alive.”

Recalling how she learnt a valuable lesson post the release of Haseen Dillruba that opened to scathing responses from ‘hysterical, agenda-driven trollers and reviewers’, Kanika says, “But it was a blockbuster. In fact, Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba 2 and Do Patti are two of the most successful films the platform (Netflix) has had in the last one year. If I was listening to the noise made by these trolls under the garb of reviewers, I wouldn’t have been able to do my job.”