Sanchita
Terrific Cast, Terrific Performances and A Terrific Directorial Debut! Darlings also marks Alia’s 1st film as a producer.
Read Darlings Full Movie Review –
Director: Jasmeet K Reen (making her debut)
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Vijay Varma, Shefali Shah
Rating: 3.5/5
Runtime: 2 hours 14 min
Storyline:
Badrunissa (Alia) is a naive wife, deeply in love with her alcoholic husband Hamza (Vijay). She believes ‘woh dil ka accha hai’ and he can change one day.
His cycle of abuse continues, with classic love-bombing and heartfelt apologies in the aftermath. Badru keeps overlooking the domestic violence, to the frustration of her mother Shamshunissa (Shefali). Instead of giving the ‘bear it and grin’ advice, Shamshunissa is waiting with open arms for her daughter to come to her senses and ditch the loser husband.
When Zulfi (Roshan Mathew), a well-wisher with a vested interest in the mother-daughter duo sneakily intervenes in this domestic violence case, a chain of events unfolds that makes it seem things are getting better at last.
But Hamza, being the proverbial scorpion to Badru’s frog, goes too far in his abuse, finally causing her to snap. The 2nd half follows the mother-daughter duo as they seek revenge with some hilarity and chaos thrown in!
What Do We Think?
Given the heavy subject of ‘domestic violence’, it was a daring choice to make Darlings a ‘dark comedy’ but Jasmeet K Reen has knocked it out of the park with her directorial debut!
From start to finish, Darlings is an entertaining ride with a consistent tone and gripping pace. The 1st half deals with the tense subject of abuse, while the 2nd paves way for more comic relief and awkward but hilarious revenge shenanigans.
Without giving away spoilers, let me just say, nowhere does it make a mockery of domestic violence victims or promote violence against men. Rather than keeping it black and white, Darlings allows its characters to have shades of grey. To people who have been shouting for ‘boycott’ of this film, please watch it first!
While the violence doesn’t get too explicit onscreen, the tension is well-executed in the scenes and almost palpable. Like when a beauty parlour lady puts make-up on a blushing bride, the scene is juxtaposed with the ruckus being caused by the violent husband upstairs. Darlings is packed with plenty of hard-hitting lines like “Duniya sirf Twitter walo ke liye badalti hai sahab! Hum jaiso ke liye nai.”
Alia, who’s also turned producer with this film, gives a very convincing performance as Badru. She looks the part and emotes the optimism, vulnerability, despair, derisiveness and ultimately the anger of her character very well. Her camaraderie with Shefali is a delight to watch.
Shefali Shah has a deliciously meaty character as the jaded single mother who wants to break her daughter out of the cycle of abuse. A strong woman with entrepreneurship and HUSTLE on her mind, Shefali also shares an interesting dynamic with Zulfi (Roshan Mathew). Her expressive eyes steal the scene.
Vijay Varma is the standout performance among this powerful cast. He’s really gotten his teeth into the Harami Hamza character; effortlessly switching between the toxic alcoholic to a doting husband. You will love to hate him. The manipulation, the sinister undertone in his demeanour….Vijay’s act is phenomenal!
Roshan Mathew was also charming, just wish he had more screen time. He’s there to take forward the narrative that ‘Not All Men’ are abusive. Personally, I loved the climax… T’was befitting indeed.
Hit Or Miss:
Overall, Darlings is hella entertaining and worth watching. It is currently streaming on Netflix, go see it!
