Darlings (2022) Cast:
Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma, Roshan Mathew, Rajesh Sharma, Vijay Maurya, Santosh Juvekar
Release Date:
The film was released on Netflix on 5th August 2022.
Darlings (2022) Review: Story, Performances & Analysis
Badrunissa Shaikh (Alia Bhatt) stays in a chawl in Byculla in Mumbai with her husband Hamza Shaikh (Vijay Varma) who is a ticket collector in the Indian Railways. She has a few dreams to fulfill with him which she planned before their marriage. She was unaware of the worst side of Hamza before marriage which she discovered later.
He is an alcoholic and becomes a monster after getting drunk. His torture becomes unbearable to Badrunissa sometimes. Her mother Shamshunnisa(Shefali Shah) also lives in the same chawl and she always suggests her daughter to leave him so that she can save herself from her torture.
Badrunissa ignores her advice saying, building a relationship takes time and she is hopeful for a better tomorrow with Hamza. But his brutal torture continues every day, the very next he says sorry and a few sweet words to Badrunissa and she forgets the previous day’s torture.
Zulfi (Roshan Mathew), a local guy who is also an aspiring writer has good bonding with both Shamshunnisa & Badrunissa and often visits their home to sell stolen goods. To save Badrunissa from Hamza’s torture Zulfi registered a complaint at the Police station and Hamza was arrested.
He weeps crocodile tears in front of Badrunissa which made her emotionally weak and she withdrew the complaint. Things started looking good when Badrunissa gave the good news to Hamza that she is pregnant. That was a short period of happiness as Hamza started his brutal torture again and this time she lost the baby. She became heartless and decided to take revenge. How? That is what the rest of the story revolves around, so I won’t do any more spoilers.
It is good to see Indian cinema focusing more on content related to social issues which need immediate attention. Recently I watched the Bengali web series Sampurna on Hoichoi which is based on the same topic domestic violence.
Debutant Director Jasmeet K Reen who is also the co-writer of this movie kept the narrative of Darlings quite simple and focused more on building the important characters, which certainly has worked.
Darlings also marks Alia Bhatt’s debut as a producer and I have to agree that she has chosen the right script for it. She is getting better at choosing the right script and I must say that after Highway, 2 States, Udta Punjab, Raazi, Gully Boy, and Gangubai Kathiawadi, her character in Darlings deserves accolades.
Shefali Shah was probably a great selection for the character Shamshunnisa. The way she portrayed the character deserves a lot of appreciation. Her bonding with her daughter, son-in-law, and Zulfi were some good parts of Darlings.
Vijay Varma has proved to be another good selection of this movie for the character Hamza with a brilliant performance. Roshan Mathew, Rajesh Sharma, Vijay Maurya, and Santosh Juvekar provided good support with their respective characters.
Final Words
Darlings is a dark comedy movie based on the social issue of domestic violence. The top performances of the lead characters as well as the brilliant execution make it a worthy watch.
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