'Darlings' review: Alia delights in dark comedy

Darlings

Hindi (Netflix)

Cast: Alia Bhatt, Vijay Varma, Shefali Shah

Director: Jasmeet K Reen

3/5

As the end credits roll, the moral of ‘Darlings’ flashes on the screen: “Violence against women is injurious to health.”

Hamza (Vijay Varma) learns it the hard way. And Badrunnisa (Alia Bhatt) is more than happy to teach .

As a privileged “wife-beater”, Hamza’s nights are sprinkled with sadistic pleasures. The couple’s two-room flat turns into a wrestling ring, shaking the beauty parlour a floor beneath.

The battered, “bechari” wife is pitied by the neighbourhood even as Hamza goes about his daily bouts. A not-so-tasty dinner or an unclean utensil is rewarded with a black eye.

But when the day breaks, the beast turns on the charm, and the bruises are forgotten. “After all, it’s the alcohols to blame, darlings, not me.” “Pleaj,” begs the man, and the woman melts, holding out hope that he will reform one day.

The cycle continues. And then, the tables are turned one day.

Alia Bhatt delights as she breezes through a volatile marriage with quirky humour. Take it as a revenge drama or a black comedy, ‘Darlings’ has a charm that saves its complex relationships. And the love for plural gives it some quirks and kinks. “Sh**s, it’s not my bad lucks” alone, Badru realises in the end.

Badru’s mother Shamsunnisa (Shefali Shah) — who lives in the same chawl — has been there, done that. As a single parent, she just wants her daughter to break the toxic pattern and dump the abuser. But the one time she gets vocal about it and confronts Hamza, Shamsu comes back home with a bleeding nose. Now, both women are convinced that “all men should be shot dead”. Rat poison will do, too.

Roshan Mathew (as the dabba delivery boy) plays perfect foil to the bumbling mother-daughter duo.

The movie derives its strength from the performances of the lead trio. They are all darlings who also sting damn hard.