Darlings Movie Review: Alia Bhatt turns producer with this Netflix flick, that has Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Productions sharing the producing duties. Directed by debutante Jasmeet K Reen, Darlings is touted as a black comedy that deals with marital abuse, with Alia playing the main lead, while Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma and Roshan Mathew are seen in important roles. Darlings is an interesting film, and definitely a bold move from Alia as a first-time producer and as an actor, whose 'offbeat' roles in movies like Udta Punjab, Highway, Gangubai Kathiawadi were seen and enjoyed. Darlings Movie: Review, Cast, Plot, Trailer, Streaming Date and Time – All You Need To Know About Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma and Roshan Mathew’s Netflix Film!
Darlings revolves around a Muslim couple, Badrunissa (Alia Bhatt), a housewife and Hamza (Vijay Varma), a ticket collector, who live in a lower-middle-class locality in Mumbai that is due for redevelopment. They had a love marriage, though in their three years of marriage, Hamza's adorings whisperings of 'Darlings' to his wife is over-dominated by his physical abuses towards her, often perpetuated by his love for the drink.
Badrunissa's single mother Shamshunisa (Shefali Shah) who stays in the nearby kholi advises her to leave Hamza, and even jokes about killing him. Badru, however, continues to be with Hamza in the hope that he would change for good. That doesn't happen, though, and one day, Hamza goes way too far in his assault of his wife, and that's when Badru decides enough is enough. She is determined to pay back to Hamza for all the tortures that she suffered at his hand, while Shamshu and Zulfi (Roshan Mathew), a benevolent salesman with a soft corner for the mother-daughter, help her out.
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Darlings is supposedly a black comedy, and the movie has a few enjoyable nuggets of that. Loved most of the scenes that brought Badru and Shamshu in front of the cops. Like the first time they are called to the station, and they think they are brought in so because they earlier had a mock discussion of killing Hamza. Or when the cops comes to search Badru's house for her missing husband, and the women try to pin the blame on a gullible Zulfi. Alia and Shefali's chemistry is an absolute delight here, and that works the best in these scenes, where their camaraderie lends to some good laughs and even works well in the emotional scenes.
Beyond that, what I admired about Darlings is that it tried to address the issue of marital abuse without compromising on the seriousness of the issue and without getting gory for the sake of it. Most of the violence are kept offscreen, but the impact of the blows isn't. A couple of scenes are quite uncomfortable to watch, like the taxi scene involving Hamza, Badru and Shamshu that leads to one character getting hit on the nose. Or that sequence where Hamza reacts violently when he learns that Badru knew who filed the domestic abuse complaint against him, the incident that breaks the camel's back for Badru. Darlings throws light on both the physical and the psychological aspects of the abuse.
Darlings doesn't remain pessimistic in nature, though. Just look at Shamshu's storyline, that of a woman who has worked life beyond a missing husband and raising a daughter on her own, and now seeks to thrive in a business opportunity from home and telling her daughter to leave her husband. This despite Shamshu knowing that the society isn't as progressive as her. When an inspector tells her that the world has changed and women can have better lives after divorce, she tells him that the world isn't Twitter.
And when I pinpoint these scenes out, I can't help but also pinpoint that those scenes are highly effective because of the actors involved. Particularly Vijay Varma, whose ability to go from cheesy to terrifying is amazing. His Hamza is also a victim of professional abuse, but the movie doesn't paint his viles as as products of his own abuse and then try to justify what he does to Badru, and that's a smart thing to do. Whenever Varma comes on screen, I was worried what he would do next. Hamza is a terrifying villain, because he feels so real and reminds you of people like him that are way too real, someone who knows where he knows to draw the line and then plays his cruel games along that line, and Varma breathes enough menace into that character to make him the film's most interesting character. Darlings Song La Ilaaj: Arijit Singh Brings a Soulful Melody to Alia Bhatt and Vijay Varma’s Black Comedy Drama.
Then there is Alia Bhatt who continues to astound me as an actor in how impressively she can turn herself into any character. Her Badru is the right mix of vulnerability and tenacity, and Alia is so believable in that role that it is hard to think that she is the same girl who does more spunky, glam roles in her mentor's productions. Alia slips effortlessly into the role of Badru, getting the mannerisms and the body language right, being funny where she needs to be, and effectively petrified in scenes that demand her to be. This is why I was disappointed with RRR when it comes to Alia. You have a fantastic actress in your mix, ane-what-salaried-employees-are-expecting-from-nirmala-sitharaman-6605292.html" title="https://www.latestly.com/videos/budget-2025-from-higher-tax-exemption-limit-to-increased-rebate-what-salaried-employees-are-expecting-from-nirmala-sitharaman-6605292.html"> Budget 2025: From Higher Tax Exemption Limit to Increased Rebate, What Salaried Employees Are Expecting From Nirmala Sitharaman