Netflix stars Alia Bhatt as Badrunissa/Badru Shaikh, Shefali Shah as Shamshu/Badrus mother, Vijay Varma as Hamza Shaikh and Roshan Mathew as Zulfi. Jasmeet K Reen has directed and co-written this story with Sheikh Parveez. In the background the song is written by Prashant Pillai, and the lyrics are composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and Mellow D. The time of the movie is 134 minutes.
This movie was made by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan Red Chillies Entertainment and Alia Bhatts Eternal Sunshine Productions. The synopsis reads, He’s temperamental and destructive. She is confident and committed. Even if he didn’t change his ways, shell would become forced to radical change hers.
Netflix Darlings Review Doesn’t contain Spoilers.
We meet a married man in Darlings Hamza (Vijay Varma) and Badru Shaikh (Alia Bhatt). Hamza and Badru live in an old residential structure in Mumbai. Her mother Shefali Shah is in a single residential area, just a few minutes away from Badrus’s home.
They loved their marriage. She’s a devoted, adarsh-looking wife who gets up, cooks for her husband and does everything he wants, and isn’t willing to receive anything. Even though Hamza is an alcoholic, proud of his government job, he beats up his wife if he makes the least of her mistakes.
Almost every night, Hamza beat his wife mercilessly. The next morning, he apologises, acts like all innocent and loved and blames alcohol for his violent behaviour. She vows to stay away from her again. Badru forgives her husband every day despite a mother telling her to intervene against him. It’s the point when Badru claims that its enough and seeks revenge.
In the trailer, Badru says she’ll treat her husband as he treated him like a child. Her mother is at her side, too. The mother-sibling pair will succeed? What will the consequences have on them? Does Hamza ever change himself? We will find out everything on the night before the movie.
In the first hour of the Netflix film Darlings, Vijay Varma shines very much. He scares you as Hamza with his manipulative personality. His wife and his lover of years can’t predict what will affect Hamza’s mood to become physically violent. Alias Badru’s solitary suffering is most often in the first half.
The author and director show how ugly and scary domestic violence is in marriage. It’s a show of the suffering one expects in a movie with a focus on such a subject. Whats sad is that Badru often accepts the beatings represents a lot of women in the same marriage who believe they deserve treatment.
During the first hour, following a major break for Badru, the story focuses mainly on Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah. It’s a part of revenge. In terms of morality and mentality, it is hard for Badru to treat her husband like that. Every harsh treatment, the triggering of Badruirs, is a tense moment. Alia did a good job in retelling the part where Badru seeks justice herself. Badru gets encouragement and help with Shefali Shahs Shamshu.
Even though the story consists of two talented actors and the adorable Mathew becoming more important in the second half, it is loses its grip. Many comedy scenes don’t explain the film. The plot is very unpredictable, but climax doesn’t come across as powerful as I was expecting. With his awkward acting as Hamza during the event, Vijay Varma again surprised me.
Alia Bhatt emotes a lot, that is why Badru speaks less than the spoken, and even a little more, has done an incredible job. Shefali Shah has played a cook earlier this year in Jalsa, in a similar way. Yet, her performance as Shamshu is quite distinct. Shah has very good timing and is the most interesting character in Darlings.
Vijay Varma is a chameleon, and his performance as Hamza proves the same. In the first half of the process, he genuinely scares TFs out of you. Vijay is very good that when Hamza acts all innocently and manipulates Badru, he will never change and never hit her. As a viewer, I believe him. Varma has one of his best performances. Roshan Mathew is charming as Faizu.
Darlings movie review: Final thoughts on the movie.
Darlings is one of the best examples of domestic violence in dark comedy. Every actor has done a phenomenal job. The music is quirky and stifling the music. There are very few films in this important subject. The last film to reveal how an abusive marriage was played by Thappad, which is a sensitive subject.
Since Darlings is a weak point of view, and it is a must watch if you are looking for relevant and enjoyable content.
The movie is now streaming on Netflix.