Why I Sided With Shailee in Do Patti(2024) More Than Saumya?

Shailee in Do Patti played by Kriti Sanon, showed her dexterity in her art and craft. Do Patti is a Bharatiya Hindi-language movie released on Netflix, that has Kajol, Kriti Sanon, and Shaheer Sheikh. I was impressed to find out that Kriti Sanon’s name, is under the production title. Seeing Shaheer Sheikh in the thumbnail was also something awesome for me. 

Now when the announcement was made by Netflix, I really didn’t want to give the content any try. However, YouTube and its constant attempt to make people watch something by repeatedly broadcasting trailers during the forced ads somehow pulled me into the trap.

So, I gave myself the time and patience to watch the trailer. Now, you can call me an old soul but I cannot tolerate a situation where a man falls in love with both sisters. It’s not at all cool for me. Also, the trailer showed or gave me the idea that one of the sisters would be killed because of the affair the other sister and the husband were brewing. So, this was the trailer for me.

I was headfirst against watching the movie. But I wanted to see it after some time when I came across a reel on Instagram that said that the movie is about childhood trauma. Since I am going through my healing phase from childhood trauma and it was about sisters, I wholeheartedly wanted to see the movie.

After I finished watching the movie, I understood, that whoever made the trailer was a genius since they completely misled the audience with whatever was there in the trailer. It was misguiding.

Now coming back to the title of this blog, why did I side with Shailee on Do Patti? Let’s get going with it.

Why I Sided with Shailee in Do Patti?

She was a lonely person looking for attention and love

Now, after Shailee’s mother died, her sister Saumya succumbed to depression. Their nanny was always focused on Saumya the younger sister, paying attention to her emotional and mental needs. Nothing much was shown about the paternal uncle during the introductory part though. Only we could see that Shailee was abandoned by her family so that Saumya could live a happy life.

Shailee was sent to boarding school. She was all alone coping with the loss of her mother all by herself in an unknown environment. Naturally, she grew up understanding that she had to fight with her sister in order to get love or attention. Her rebellious stances were her emotional support which she often hung on to survive.

When she met Dhruv, not only Shailee it was Dhruv as well, who was attracted to her. Yes, Shailee knew the fact, that Saumya was in love with Dhruv but when she confronted her feelings  Saumya was silent. She was drenched with fear of losing someone she love to Shailee.

I won’t judge Saumya here, but Saumya was with her nanny and uncle all these years, while Shailee was growing up all by herself in the boarding school. The audiences were given the idea that the relationship that Shailee and Druv developed over the course of the movie was extremely passionate, aggressive, wild, and intense. They were fully expressive of their passionate love in front of the city they lived. 

Now, Dhruv was also a victim of Toxic parenting. His step to choosing Saumya over Shailee just to get the deal on the land which was profitable for his business and live a happy, comfortable relationship with his parents was important for him. But I was left speechless when Saumya without a question accepted Dhruv’s proposal for marriage.

At that time Shailee was in a relationship with Dhruv. They had to break up after Saumya agreed to marry Dhruv which was certainly painful for Shailee. She perceived it as a loss. Also, she was again left all alone.

She was misunderstood

Saumya was grabbed by depression which is a chronic mental sickness that needs support and help from loved ones. However, Shailee was not given any attention or care after she lost her mother. Their nanny was all for Saumya. The biasness was toxic.

Everything was taken away from Shailee and was given to Saumya because of her illness. Things took an ugly turn when Shailee out of spite chops off Samuya’s hair. To handle the situation Shialee was sent to boarding school to keep Saumya safe.

It’s not about losing a mother here, it’s about people who experience emotional neglect, often go through fight or flight mode to cope. Here Shailee was turning into a fighter since she could see everything and everybody she loved and cherished was taken away from her and was given to her sister.

In fact, when she arrived after some years to meet her family, no one was happy. They were wondering what if Shailee now steals the boy from Saumya. Her wild lifestyle made her appear strong and carefree which was nothing but a coping mechanism for her loneliness.

She took the bravest stand when she should have

Even after seeing that Saumya is not alone, Shailee chooses to side with her sister, because it was important to save her. See, I will never ever support what Shailee did after her sister’s marriage. It was out of spite which was emotionally out of her control. She went to live with Saumya even though she was unwelcome.

She saw bruises on Saumya’s face and still believed that it was Saumya’s way of gaining attention. Her angst against Saumya was so much that she continued to believe Dhruv whatever he lied. But when she experienced Saumya’s chronic exhibition of PTSD, she knew that it was time. She had to support Saumya no matter what because she could only save Saumya.

Now during the court scene, we could see, as kids both the sisters knew how their mother died. And now Saumya was also going through a similar hellish experience. Back then Shailee kept her mouth shut, since she was a kid and also made Saumya shut up, to survive. But if she continues to shut her mouth now, she will lose her sister this time.

In a way, she was presented with the opportunity by Universe which she makes great use of. She chooses Dharma.  

P.S: See, I am not a psychologist but, I had some similar experiences where I felt left out and all alone by my family. I also had some genuinely dense times when I felt nothing was going to change and I would be all alone forever. When I brought the issue in front of my family, I was the one who was verbally abused and I returned to square one, once again. 

The healing journey made me realize that all three, be it Saumya, Shailee, or Dhruv, no one experienced a happy healthy childhood. Shailee and Saumya saw their father killing their mother and were made to shut their mouth, by their uncle. 

On the other hand, Dhruv grew up watching his mother being abused by his father and realized that it was normal. Here he lacked the sense of wrong and right which I believe we are born with.

The three prominent characters were trapped in the vicious circle of toxic parenting. They grew up the way they did because of the toxic adults in their lives. The movie shows how parenting can ruin a child’s mental health and force them to make wrong decisions in life repeatedly.

For me-

• Saumya choosing Dhruv to marry was a heinous act since she knew that Dhruv was Shailee’s boyfriend. 
• Shailee choosing to live with her sister and her ex on the pretext of house renovation was wrong.
• Shailee constantly neglects Saumya’s pain and chooses to believe Dhruv who had an anger issue was wrong.
• Saumya not filing for domestic abuse was wrong.
• Saumya wanting to bring a child into such a toxic environment was wrong.
• Shailee ruining Saumya’s reception family photo was wrong.

So, these are my reasons why I chose to see Shailee and side with her more. I hope my reasons to support Shailee more than Saumya make sense to you. If we differ in our voice, I am here to read from you all. Let’s connect here. Comment down your thoughts here. 

But this is for today. Bye Bye till we meet again soon.