Table of Contents
Renowned screenwriter Kanika Dhillon is gearing up for her upcoming film Do Patti, starring Kriti Sanon and Kajol. The Netflix film which revolves around twin sisters with dark secrets, is currently streaming on Netflix. In the past, Kanika has written many hit flicks, including Kedarnath, Size Zero, Manmarziyan and Haseen Dillruba among others. She is known for crafting fearless women characters on screen and has won accolades for her work. The writer has also faced criticism from a section of society for showcasing bold characters in her stories. Now, in an exclusive chat with Zoom, Kanika reacts to people targeting her for glorifying cheating in the popular crime drama Haseen Dillruba.
Kanika Dhillon on people criticising her for glorifying cheating and violence in Hasseen Dillruba
In a chat with Zoom, Kanika Dhillon responds to people criticising her for glorifying cheating in Hasseen Dillruba, where Taapsee Pannu's Rani cheats on her husband with his brother.
She shares, "I think it's the first time I had to fight on the other side because the question was 'Kanika you have given women who are strong, powerful or enable. How can your woman be okay with a man punishing her with abuse?' So, even then, what I wanted to tell them was that my woman, If I had made her be an abla naari (helpless woman) and then she didn’t have a choice and then glorified the abuse, that would have been a different thing. But, my woman from Day 1 is educated, she is the alpha in the relationship, she’s preyed on the guy, she is the villain and she is totally cuckoo and she literally becomes the criminal in the end. She becomes a criminal in the end, so I’m not giving you a happy ending. So, yes I’ve gone the other way but my intention is not to glorify abuse. I intend to say that this is a messed up woman, who is making wrong choices and she cheated on her husband with her devar, which of course, nobody minded that. Also, nobody minded the fact that the brother had cheated on the bhabhi, the questioning never went that way. Only Rani (the female character) was questioned, ‘How dare you (was asked from the female character) but what about the devar?'”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Taapsee Pannu (@taapsee)
Kanika on showcasing cheating in her film Manmarziyaan
On being asked if some of her films justify violence in love, Kanika shared,” I’ll start fromManmarizyaan. In Manmarziyaan, there was a section of conservative section of society that said a woman who is married is sleeping with a lover, wearing a choora (bangles) and this all morality thing and on top of that ‘how dare she?’ the audacity of it, that didn’t go down well. We had to actually make a few cuts because there was furore about it.”
She added,"Coming to Kedarnath, of course, there was a furore 'how dare this woman go for a man belonging to another religion?' Usually, there is a divide between people who are a little liberal and conservative, but there is a clear-cut divide."
Kanika on writing Do Patti: I was a chaotic mess while writing this story
As Do Patti has sequences showcasing violence, Kanika Dhillon shared that she ‘was a chaotic mess’ while writing the story of the film. Sharing her experience of writing the film, she shared, “While writing a story the story of me is not this violent scene per se. Why am I telling the story? As a writer, you can meander in various ways and there are very tempting things that can actually fall for, and there are very titillating things that you can fall for. The course corrections have to be very rigorous for a writer. I have to keep telling myself also, being a woman helped of course, because we have a certain lens already, feeling very deeply for it. It also kind of helped. I was a chaotic mess while I was writing the film, there was no escaping it because..aap ek kahaani likh rahe ho as a writer khoon toh dena banta hai, but the fact that you have to stay the course and it doesn’t become about this titillating violence.”
ALSO READ: Do Patti: Ajay Devgn Turns Cheerleader For Wife Kajol At Film’s Screening. WATCH
She added, " But it is about that human being that's being fractured, that's being tortured that's fallen and that has to rise. The story arc and where I'm heading as a writer have to be crystal clear, I have to keep coming back to it. Woh hota hai na Arjun ek fish ki aankh dekh kar chalta hai… Things that you are writing, tricky things that have a very slippery slope and violence does especially, especially domestic abuse – it's a very sticky slope to go down. So, I have to correct many times and I have to completely remind myself, what is my intention, where is it coming from and what is the end that's why I feel the emotions, the characters, the siblings, the mother, the women, the families around, those were the important parts, those were the important pieces and this is why the violence meant to be shunned and it should get only that much treatment and importance from the writer."
Do Patti, featuring Kriti Sanon, Kajol and Shaheer Sheikh, currently streaming on Netflix offers an intense thriller experience. The film, directed by Shashanka Chaturvedi, promises a gripping narrative with standout performances.