Do Patti marks two firsts for Kriti Sanon — she turns producer with the Netflix film and also plays the first double role of her decade-long career. On the eve of the release of the thriller, now streaming on the platform, the statuesque actor spoke to t2 on Do Patti and the evolution of her craft.

It is less than 24 hours to the release of your maiden production. What are the butterflies like before Blue Butterfly Films kicks off?

Even though Do Patti is going to be on Netflix and doesn’t have the pressure of box office, I have big butterflies in my stomach! There is the anxiousness of how people will react to the film.

What is it about Do Patti that made you want to not only sign up for the first double role of your career but also turn producer?

I came onto this project because of the social issue (domestic violence) that it addresses. There came a time when I wanted to start producing films and be more creatively involved in certain projects that come from my heart. I met Kanika (Dhillon, the writer and co-producer of Do Patti) for the same thing. She asked me if there was anything that I felt strongly about. Domestic violence is one of the issues that I deeply feel for. I have written poems about domestic violence. During Covid, I narrated a poem on it. I spoke about the cause with the National Commission for Women.

It disturbs me when I read something about domestic violence. The stats disturb me, as well as when I see a house help getting beaten up by the husband because he is drinking every night.

Kanika had another story in mind, which was of twins. Once we met, she took a month and beautifully married her idea and my cause together into this story.

Whenever one is delivering a social message or talking about a serious subject — I feel through movies we can impact minds and also lives — it should always be wrapped in other things which are engaging and sometimes entertaining, so that the audience can also be on the journey of the film. And in that, you leave them with a thought.

Like Mimi (for which Kriti received a National Award) is a very entertaining film which leaves you with the thought of adoption, surrogacy and abortion.

Has this been one of your most creatively satisfying projects?

Creative satisfaction has two parts. One is when you are performing as an actor and you feel the scenes moving you and going deep within you. But we don’t make home videos, we don’t make films for ourselves. The idea is for it to reach audiences and whatever you are trying to portray on the screen should move something inside the person who is watching it. That is the second part of the aspect of creative satisfaction. That is the main kind of satisfaction where people connect with what you are trying to do... otherwise you are just doing it for yourself.

What was it like playing a double role for the first time in your 10-year career?

It is tricky to play two characters, especially in the same scene. It is easier if the characters have separate scenes because then you feel like you are doing two films back to back and are playing two different characters. But in Do Patti, about 70 per cent of the scenes involved having both sisters (Saumya and Shailee) in the same scene. Technically, it got very challenging because even when I was playing one part, I had to mentally prepare myself for the other and know what I was going to be exactly doing.

Also, they are sisters who have been brought up in the same environment. It is not like one speaks a certain dialect and the other doesn’t. I didn’t have those very obvious crutches. It is not that one doesn’t know English and the other does, but the way they talk the same English language might be different.

I had to make sure that I make the personalities different. My sister (Nupur Sanon) and I are very different personalities. Our voices may sound the same on phone, even though we are not twins, but we have different energies. In this film, I tried to bring in a difference between Saumya and Shailee’s voices.

What was most challenging was doing emotional scenes with myself. In such cases, an actor has a body double in front, who is usually a model and not a performer. So one has to make do with not-so-great cues and that becomes tough. In Do Patti, the scene where the two sisters have a confrontation — which is a very emotionally high-strung scene — was very challenging because I was performing with myself.

Do you feel you are a more evolved actor after Do Patti?

Hundred per cent. Every film and every character that challenges you, that scares you in the beginning and you wonder how will you be able to pull it off, is a step forward for an actor. Once you get past it, it opens up something in you.

Saumya’s breakdown scene gave me sleepless nights. That was one scene which made me feel that till I perform this, I really don’t know how I am going to do it. It has so many layers and I had to work really hard to understand her psyche and to make it feel convincing. Films like Mimi, Teri Baaton Mein (Aisa Uljha Jiya) and Do Patti have helped me grow.

Do Patti has an extremely visceral and prolonged domestic violence scene that is disturbing and yet necessary. What went into filming it?

The idea was to not shy away from showing this disturbing aspect of the film. We wanted to delve into it and not simply touch upon it. Domestic violence can be many things — raising your voice, throwing a phone, twisting the arm or just putting fear into the woman. If not stopped at the right time, it can escalate into something extremely dangerous.

We had to go all out in that scene. It was very traumatic, even though it was all choreographed and we had an action director on set.

I felt very low while filming that scene and so did Shaheer Shaikh (who plays Saumya’s husband). I remember I had to console him and say: ‘Listen, relax... I am okay.’

In that scene, Saumya is howling, crying and almost pleading. When you do a scene like that, it goes somewhere deep into you. On that day, everyone on set — which included my team of hair and make-up — was visibly low. They were like: ‘Your screams are going to haunt us all night.’ A few of my relatives wanted to come on set and watch the shoot and by chance, I happened to call them on the day we were doing that scene. At the end of it, they were like: ‘Could you not have made us watch this scene?!’

It is a scene that is bound to anger most people. It feels very real. Right after finishing that scene, I had to leave for Delhi for my National Award ceremony. Usually, I am a very switch off, switch on person. I don’t take my scenes back home. In Delhi, I was doing the trials for my sari for the award ceremony. My parents were going to be there to watch me get the National Award and ideally, I should have been very excited. But I was so mentally low. I was constantly wanting to break down and I wasn’t understanding what was going on with me. It was only in retrospect that I realised it was all happening because of that scene.

Even apart from that scene, every time I would be on set as Saumya — depressed, scared and always sporting some bruise or the other — the energy of the whole set would automatically be serious and low. But every time I would come on set as Shailee, people would be happy, playing music and feeling like there was a party going on. So, I think the character’s energy, the scene’s energy really affects the whole set.

What is the vision for Blue Butterfly Films?

I want to support good stories. I want to be creatively involved in things I am passionate about. I want to tell stories which say something in some way. I want them to be entertaining but I also want them to — in a big or small way — leave something with the audience. I also want to make and support films where I am not acting. I want to create more opportunities, whether it is for women in the industry or for outsiders... for people who deserve it.

This year has marked 10 years for you in the movies. Besides Mimi, what would you pick as the turning points in your career?

I did feel a shift post-Mimi. With that film, people saw a different side to me and saw a lot more potential than what they could see in my films before. Not only did the kind of roles that came to me change after that, even the type of roles I was attracted to post-Mimi changed.

This whole year has been one that I would definitely like to remember. Whether it was Teri Baaton Mein doing well and Sifra (her character) getting so much love, then there was Crew, a film with three women (Kareena Kapoor Khan and Tabu starred with Kriti), doing very well at the box office. That was a big win because it helps to open up more opportunities for others and gives a lot more confidence to producers to make films for women that make money for them and not because they had to make a film with and for women.