Movie Review: Darling, starring Alia Bhatt

Rating: 3 of 5

Star Cast: Alia Bhatt, Vijay Varma, Shefali Shah, Roshan Mathew, Rajesh Sharma

Director: Jasmeet K. Reen

Along with Jasmeet, Parveez Sheikh has written the film who should be celebrated more for giving us films like Queen (co-writer), Bajrangi Bhaijaan (co-writer), and Blackmail (writer) & many others. Going by his body of work, we know well he could balance humor with any other genre in the film. Be it the drama in Queen, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, or thrills in Blackmail, he knows how to keep things light while staying afloat in the main genre of those films.

Alia Bhatt once again has proved why she’s not hyped just for the sake of it. She’s just proving every word said about her on the latest season of Koffee With Karan. From the accent to the physical tonality, she has done Badru as no one else could’ve.

Despite a stellar performance by Alia, Vijay Varma remained to be the most intriguing element for me in the film. The artist in him owns the hate he gets for Hamza so much that almost starts feeling like he’s feasting on the same to improve his character. The emotions he enrages in you from fear to the urge of killing him is a sign of his artistic brilliance & the magic of this script.

Shefali Shah flows with the story as smooth as the butter. The emotional burden Rukhsar comes in the guise of her quirky nature is highlighted impeccably well by Shefali ma’am. Post Choked, Roshan Mathew chooses yet another interesting character portraying his skills at the best. The way his character is used for comical relief in the second half stands out. Rajesh Sharma doesn’t get much dialogue but still, he adds certain substance to his role.

Apart from Prashant Pillai’s intriguing background score, the film’s sound design took the cake for me. From the sound of Vijay Varma banging his tiffin on the stairs while climbing up to syncing guitar-riff in a very important ‘sandal-hitting’ scene, the designer uses all this external noise extremely well to create the tension in the room. Vishal Bhardwaj & Mellow D’s songs just land perfectly without creating any obstruction. The rap song Bhasad is to this film exactly what Badla was to Blackmail.