Netflix’s Darlings stars Alia Bhatt as Badrunissa/Badru Shaikh, Shefali Shah as Shamshu/Badru’s mother, Vijay Varma as Hamza Shaikh and Roshan Mathew as Zulfi. Jasmeet K Reen has directed and co-written the story with Parveez Sheikh. The background score is by Prashant Pillai, and songs are composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and Mellow D. The runtime is 134 minutes.
The movie is produced by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Alia Bhatt’s Eternal Sunshine Productions. The synopsis reads, “He’s temperamental and destructive. She’s trusting and devoted. But if he won’t change his ways, she’ll be forced to drastically change hers.”
Netflix’s Darlings Review Contains No Spoilers
We meet a married couple in Darlings – Hamza (Vijay Varma) and Badru Shaikh (Alia Bhatt). Hamza and Badru live in an old residential structure in Mumbai. Badru’s mother (Shefali Shah) resides in the same residential area, just a few rooms away from Badru’s house.
Badru and Hamza had a love marriage. She’s a devoted and “adarsh” wife who gets up, cooks for her husband, and does everything he wants, hardly getting anything in return. However, Hamza is an alcoholic husband, proud of his government job, and beats up his wife if she does even a small mistake.
Almost every night, Hamza mercilessly beats up his wife. The next morning, he apologises, acts all innocent and loving and blames alcohol for his violent behaviour. He promises not to hit her again. Every day, Badru forgives her husband, despite her mother telling her to take action against him. But there comes the point where Badru says it’s enough and seeks revenge.
In the trailer, Badru says she will treat her husband Hamza exactly how he treated her. Her mother is also on her side. Will the mother-daughter duo succeed? What will be the consequences of taking matters into their own hands? Will Hamza ever change himself? We find out everything at the end of the movie.
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In the first hour of the Netflix movie Darlings, Vijay Varma shines the most. He scares you as Hamza with his abusive and manipulative personality. His wife and lover of years also cannot predict what will affect Hamza’s mood to get physically violent. Alia’s Badru is mostly a silent sufferer in the first half.
The director and writer have brilliantly shown the ugly and scary side of domestic violence in a marriage. They’ve shown the misery with distressing scenes one expects in a movie that touches on a subject like this. What’s sad is the way Badru sometimes tolerates the beatings, representing many women in such marriages who believe they deserve the treatment.
In the last hour, after a major breaking point for Badru, the story shifts its focus mainly on Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah. It’s the revenge part. Emotionally and mentally, it’s tough for Badru to treat her husband the same way. Every harsh treatment is a triggering moment for Badru. Alia does a good job portraying the part where Badru seeks justice herself. With Shefali Shah’s Shamshu by her side, Badru gets encouragement and support.
Despite having two brilliant actors, along with the adorable Roshan Mathew getting more importance in the second half, the story loses its grip. Many comedy scenes throw the narrative off track. Due to the shakiness of the plot, the climax doesn’t come across as impactful as I was expecting it to be. However, Varma again surprised me with his tricky acting as Hamza in the end.
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Alia Bhatt as Badru speaks less and emotes more and has done an incredible job. Shefali Shah has played a cook earlier in Jalsa this year, in a similar background. Yet, her performance as Shamshu is quite distinctive. Shah has good comic timing and is the most interesting character.
Vijay Varma is a chameleon, and his performance as Hamza proves the same. He truly scares TF out of you in the first half with his unpredictable acting. Vijay is so good that when Hamza acts all innocent and manipulates Badru that he will change and never hit her, I, as a viewer, also believe him. Varma gave one of his best performances. Roshan Mathew adds charm to the story as Faizu.
Darlings Movie Review: Final Thoughts
Overall, Darlings is a good attempt to highlight the serious subject of domestic violence in some chilling sequences. The comedy falls flat sometimes. Every actor has done a phenomenal job. The music is quirky and suits the tone of the movie. There are very few movies on such an important subject. The last movie that highlighted DV was Thappad, which had a serious tone.
Despite a weak climax, the movie is a must-watch if you are looking for relevant content.
The movie is now streaming on Netflix.
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