Darlings: "A quirky satirical take on domestic violence!!!"

With a plethora of movies lined up for release to cash in on the extended weekend, I am eagerly looking forward to checking out some of them. However, prior to that I happened to watch Jasmeet Reen's "Darlings" which had released on Netflix. It was an interesting movie as it was a satirical take on domestic violence presented as a dark comedy making sure that the core subject wasn't belittled. Another reason why I was eager to watch the movie was the presence of Roshan Mathew who has made it a habit of managing to feature in some interesting projects. 

The movie unfolds in the suburban areas of Mumbai were Hamza (Vijay Verma) & Badru (Alia Bhatt) is a couple who seems to be leading a happy life within their limited means. But all wasn't hale & hearty under their roof as Hamza's alcoholism constantly disrupted their marital bliss as he inflicted bodily harm on his wife. Despite the constant request from her single mother, Shamsu (Shefali Shah) to leave Hamza, Badru still harbored hopes that things would get better with time. However her mother was indeed right as he continued to fool Badru with his hollow promises of turning into a new leaf. It was now upto Badru to decide as to how she wanted to take her life forward.

Apart from being her directorial debut, Jasmeet has also penned the script along with Parveez Sheikh. This is at no instance a social commentary, so I would request you not to watch it in that angle but rather as a quirky entertainer presented as dark comedy. The writers deserves praise for the characterization of the core subjects namely Badru & Hamza. The former believes that things would get better if her husband quits alcohol & becomes a father. Hamza on the other hand is socially conditioned to believe that a couple of slaps on his wife doesn't indicate that he doesn't love her but rather it is merely to enforce the fact that he is indeed the man in power. All of us have come across numerous incidents of domestic violence & in cases, where the wife decide to file for a divorce the social stigma attached to it is hard to explain. Even the police more often than not takes a very passive step which is not what the screenplay showcases here as it is an idealistic situation whereby pretty much everyone is supportive of Badru. At about 134 minutes, it does lag at times as Nitin Baid could have done a better job with the editing. All the other technical aspects were ok.

On the performance front, Shefali, Alia & Vijay have given praise worthy performances as both the ladies tread the thin line of comedy and grimness with finesse. As for the rest of the cast, Roshan, Rajesh Sharma & Vijay Maurya have done their parts well. 

Verdict: It was an interesting take on a serious subject which stands out coz of the solid performances from its cast. It is not a movie like "Thappad" but still manages to convey what it wanted to say to a certain extent.  In short, do give it a try!!!

Rating: 2.75/5

Regards...Ben