There is no formula to a successful movie. But looking at writer-producer Kanika Dhillon’s filmography may make you think otherwise. With Do Patti (2024), she has delivered the most watched OTT film of the year, as per viewership data. In 2021, she achieved the feat with Haseen Dillruba. When we get on a call with her, that’s what we begin with: Has she cracked a formula to success? “There is never a formula,” she laughs. “No subject is niche; the tryst is to make it accessible to a larger audience. That’s how even when I take a layered theme like domestic abuse, it has a large audience engagement. You have to determine early on who you want to reach out to. According to that, you determine the film’s syntax.”

Kriti Sanon and Shaheer Sheikh in Do Patti