Darlings: A serious tale told in a quirky way

A frog was resting by the river. A scorpion stuck in a flood came to the frog in distress. The scorpion pleaded to the frog, “Please help me cross the river.” The frog asked, “What if you sting me?” The scorpion replied, “O silly, if I sting you, then we’ll both drown. Why would I kill myself?” The frog believed the scorpion. So the frog let the scorpion hop on his back, and they began to cross the river. When they reached the middle of the river, the scorpion lifted his tail and stung the frog. They both started drowning. The drowning frog asked the scorpion, “Hey, scorpion, why did you sting me?” The scorpion replied, “I am a scorpion, stinging is what I do.”

This metaphorical story, appearing multiple times in the latest Netflix Original ‘Darlings’, bolsters the main theme of the film. Here, the frog is the metonymy of Badru (Alia Bhatt), a gullible wife, who keeps on believing that she will be able to reform his husband with love, while Hamza (Vijay Varma) is the scorpion, who in reality is not only an alcoholic but also a wife-beater.

In alignment with the above-mentioned story, the abusive Indian husbands in most cases will continue to torture their very Indian ‘Sati Savitri’ wives forever, but will the oppressed wives ever perceive that it is indeed an ‘open and shut case’, hence they should also shut this particular chapter of their lives? We will get to see where one such wife is headed in ‘Darlings’, a film that deals with a very serious subject like domestic violence. But rather than driving the grim tale towards its usual disturbing direction, it chooses to come out rather as a dark comedy.

And that is exactly what makes all the difference. Had the tone of the movie been kept exclusively serious, most of the audience would have skipped it for sure. Because things like domestic abuse or violence against women are so depressing to consume on the screen that even most classy movie-lovers nowadays also decide to give them a miss. But thanks to the story writers, Parveez Sheikh and Jasmeet K Reen, also the director of the movie, ‘Darlings’ remains surprisingly interesting and entertaining till the credits roll.

The finishing of ‘Darlings’ might remind you of the Kangana Ranaut-starrer ‘Queen’. Though the overall story of ‘Queen’ was much stronger and empowering for women, the finishing of ‘Darlings’ in particular conveyed more meaningful messages that will remain with the audiences for a long time.

While there is no dearth of mass-appealing entertainment factors in ‘Darlings’, it still will anger and infuriate one part of the audience, especially who are extremely sensitive in regards to domestic abuse issues, or have been witness to, or in the receiving end of, real-life violence.

Another section of the audience may also claim that the movie is promoting misandry, but the presence of at least two overtly generous male characters makes sure it is not.

But is it a feminist film? Sure it is. And remember, feminism is not a cancer. Violence against women is.

Many women will relate to the character played by Alia, who is ever optimistic and seemingly never ready to let go of a partner not really suitable for her, or anyone for that matter.

The role of Badru’s mother Shamshunnisa, played by Shefali Shah, also holds quite significant. As opposed to her daughter, she is very realistic, always telling Badru to bid adieu to the toxic relationship, and even does not care about sacrificing her moral ground to reach the desired destination.

It would have been a great waste of Shefali Shah’s talent, had she been confined to a mommy role only. Fortunately, the story writers had a subplot in place for her as well. While that subplot concerning Zulfi (Roshan Mathew) may not seem very deep and relevant in accordance with the main plot, as a matter of fact, it really does add new dimensions to the already quirky storyline full of strong substances.

Overall, the story never attempts to be too hilarious and deals with one issue at a time. The director Reen deserves all the credit for this. She handled the entire storyline with great care, never letting the subject matter at hand go out of her hand. Presumably, being a woman herself also helped to hold her ground, and avoid becoming a gender-insensitive affair. The length of the movie, however, is a big minus. It should have been at least 20 minutes shorter.

As far as acting is concerned, Alia Bhatt has once again delivered a hard-hitting performance. It is not easy to topple her performance from ‘Gangubai Kathiwadi’, but Badru from ‘Darlings’ will also be a welcome addition to her impressive filmography.

Vijay Varma is always at his very best portraying shady characters, and ‘Darlings’ too will go down as one of his finest works. That may not be the case with Shefali Shah, simply because she has many more great roles to talk about before coming down to this one. Roshan Mathew as Zulfi was decent. Rajesh Sharma as Kasim seemed to be underperforming, but that is what his character demanded.

After all, is said and done, it must be noted that ‘Darlings’ is an exceptionally watchable film.

‘Darlings’ is Alia Bhatt’s (Eternal Sunshine Productions) debut film as a producer.