Introduction to 'Darlings' Movie:
Alia Bhatt is back on OTT with her debut co-production Darlings, following the huge success of Gangubai Kathiawadi.
Darlings' producers published the film's engaging trailer on 25th July 2022. The movie is a dark comedy starring Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, and Vijay Varma. Darlings' trailer depicts Alia as a victim of domestic violence. According to the video, her character, Badrunissa Shaikh, kidnaps her husband, Hamza Shaikh, after being physically assaulted by him. While Hamza remains abducted at her home, Badrunissa and her mother filed a police report.
Darlings, directed by Jasmeet K Reen, offers an engaging plot with deception, relationships, comedy, and a social message. The film has a strong star cast with actors that are well-known for the command of their acting abilities.
Watch the Darlings Trailer below:
All About Darlings Movie:
The story revolves around Badru (Alia Bhatt), who is trapped in a violent marriage with her husband Hamza (Vijay Varma). While Badru has learned to live her life as a victim of domestic violence, her single mother Shamshu (Shefali Shah) is adamantly opposed. One day, Badru has had enough and decides to house arrest Hamza with the help of her mother and a friend and business partner, Zulfi (Roshan Mathew).
Jasmeet K Reen, who previously worked as a writer on films such as Force 2 and Pati Patni Aur Woh, makes her feature film directing debut. We can say that her direction is strong and the film is fine in its own way.
The first half of the picture needs one's patience to show Badru's suffering, and it's only in the second half that the narrative goes forward and becomes engaging. The picture begins nicely, loses the storyline in the middle, and finally finds its charm towards the climax. The humour is integrated unevenly into the plot, which somehow works.
The performances are its most engaging component, keeping the audience interested even when the narrative doesn't have much to give. Alia Bhatt demonstrates once again why she is one of the best actresses in Bollywood today. It's not just about how much money she can make with her picture, but also about the quality of her performances.
At a time when Bollywood films and performers are suffering, Alia is stealing the show in 2022 with one outstanding performance after another. Shefali Shah is also having a good year. It started with Human, then Jalsa, and now Darlings, where she is getting the best work of her life and nailing it. Roshan Mathew is an amusing and innocent buddy and business partner.
But it's Vijay Varma who steals the show here. Vijay plays a role who isn't your stereotypical bad guy, as an alcoholic and abusive husband. He is really dislikeable, but you adore his screen presence.
Controversies over 'Darlings' Movie:
On July 25, the film's trailer was released. The 2.34-minute video depicts victim Badrunissa (Alia) kidnapped and torturing her spouse on a daily basis. She ties his hands and stabs him without hesitation. In another scene, she clutches his hair as the second lead character (Roshan Mathew) forces wine down his throat. In another scene, Shefali Shah's character requests that Badrunissa put rat poison in her husband's food to help him quit drinking, and Alia's character takes her advice.
In the trailer, Alia is also shown banging a frying pan on her on-screen husband's head while saying, 'ab batting shuru (the batting begins now)'. Meanwhile, actor Vijay's character is depicted sobbing and screaming in pain.
Some mixed reactions from the audience:
While it's typical for a segment of social media users to just cancel an actor or his/her new project based on prior statements, ideology, political inclinations, and religious convictions, the trend against Alia is a little different. Many people believe that the actress' current film encourages extreme misogyny. Darlings cast Vijay in the part of Hamza Shaikh, Badru's husband who beats her till she tries to avenge him by kidnapping and torturing him in the same house where they live.
just finished #darlings and i just loved it, it was more darker than i was expected, the story is so gripping and unfortunately too real, so many women still suffer from their husband's violences, the cast was fabulous, bow down to alia who is really a superstar ! 💫#aliabhatt pic.twitter.com/wndedUkp2S
— Ashh-Loove ♡♡♡ (@AishRanliaLoove) August 5, 2022
Alia Bhatt not only acted in #Darlings, she produced it.
— Priya Sharma (@PriyaScifi) August 2, 2022
She produced a movie which makes entertainment out of torture of men by women.#BoycottAliaBhatt#BoycottDarlingshttps://t.co/FJYzMR7XnL
#boycottAliaBhatt
— Darshan Kamat (@MraFighter) August 3, 2022
Why is Domestic violence against men normalised and even worse mocked. 3.4 crore men in India face domestic violence . This is not acceptable. @realsiff is against thishttps://t.co/aNxHzWqYTb
#BoycottAliaBhatt who is endorsing DV on Men.
— Catachi (@itachi_senpai1) August 3, 2022
Imagine if the genders were reversed! pic.twitter.com/OK4EDAe3pS
Final verdict on 'Darlings' Movie:
Darlings is a wise decision by the filmmakers to centre the film on the mother-daughter relationship rather than the couple's domestic violence. When the tables are turned and Hamza is the alleged victim at the hands of his ruthless wife and her mother, violence against men appears to be a farce. Of course, Badru's acts are justified because she is filled with vengeance and anger, but it does call into question the fundamental premise of Darlings.
Darlings had an intriguing concept that had the potential to be a cracker of a black comedy. The film is still watchable and works because of the numerous outstanding performances.
Our rating: 6.5/10
