KARACHI: Alia Bhatt’s debut production stands out for all the right reasons – a stellar cast, great direction and set design, and well-done character arcs. It represents the complex internal battle of a victim of abuse, especially when it comes to how someone may evolve when faced with the unabating abuse our main character Badrunnisa (Alia Bhat) faces and does so in style.
The film follows Badrunissa, played by Bhatt, as she tries to navigate the abusive cycle she is stuck in at the hands of her husband Hamza, played by Vijay Varma. Alongside Badrunissa is her mother Shamshunissa, played by Shefali Shah, who is an independent, spirited woman trying to make her own place in the world.
While Bhatt has set a welcome precedent for delivering heart-wrenching performances in every film she does, it is truly Shah that stands out in Darlings for her effortless performance. She possesses the skill that every good filmmaker loves – showing, not telling. Her well-timed dialogue delivery and the beautiful subtlety with which she showcases her character’s inner-most feelings is a treat to watch. A moment in the film that highlights this the best is when Badru visits Shamshu to make amends for Hamza hitting her, bringing along the news that Shamshu will become a grandparent soon. The joy on Shamshu’s face is evident, washed over with relief as she finally brings her daughter back.
Yet, when she spots Hamza cowering behind his wife to offer an apology, an insincere one, of course, the slight pressing of her lips and the darkening of her eyes lasts for only a second or two, but it was enough to show how drastically different her feelings for him are.
However, the flashbacks at the film’s climax that reveal what truly happened to Shamshu’s husband not only felt like an insult to Shah’s craft but to the audience’s intelligence as well. Even to the mind not accustomed to the dynamics of film in general, when Shamshu tearfully assures Badru she did the right thing by letting Hamza escape from the bounds of the railway tracks, Shahmshu’s confession was unleashed in those very words and further exposition felt like nothing less than overkill. If the trust in the film’s direction and the script had been followed through to the end, it would have left for a stronger, more open-ended conclusion, allowing for viewers to interpret it in their own way.
While Darlings has been promoted as a dark comedy-drama, the film falters while trying to balance this complex set of genres. Humour, that was previously coming in from the outside through intercut scenes of the well-meaning salon aunty, immediately shifts into the hands of the mother-daughter duo as they finally have Hamza within their palms. While viewers applaud Badru’s reclamation of control and power in order to regain the respect Hamza has stolen from her bit by bit, this drastic shift in where the humour comes from could be startling to some. The film can be divided into two halves, with the moment in the hospital where Badru’s perception of Hamza and her marriage completely changes course marking this division. Therefore, the pacing of the two-hour-long film was done well, with both the first half and the second half being given equal importance in terms of length and character progression.
The sound design faltered in more than one way. The dramatic build-up of the score to fall in line with Hamza’s building rage was akin to a horror movie preparing its audience for a jumpscare. Abuse is never a jumpscare, but a lived reality that the victim has come to expect. That is where the true tragedy lies. For Badru, not a night has gone by since she got married three years ago that she hasn’t been thrashed in her own home. Perhaps allowing for the chawl’s ambient sound during the day and the quiet solitude at night to be highlighted would have an elevated impact. Nevertheless, the underwhelming sound design is saved by the soundtrack, comprising three songs, including the theme song Pleaj! by Mika Singh that perfectly emulates the coinciding beginning and concluding scenes, although both scenes take place in completely opposing contexts.
What Darlings does best is visualising the thoughts, wishes, and urges of a victim of abuse through its perfectly-casted characters, meaningful dialogue, limited soundtrack, and intentional use of only a few filming locations.
The most stand-out attribute of the film has to be the chemistry between the mother-daughter duo, which none other than Bhatt and Shah would have been able to give life to so effortlessly. The subtle complexity of the actors, as well as the addition of dark comedy and the element of revenge, gives a fresh take on what is otherwise a simple story.
Ultimately, Darlings is a stark commentary on the reality of society. For when Shamshu tells the police officer that Badru simply can’t divorce her husband due to the shame that will always remain one short step behind her, the film raises the age-old discussion about the near-impossibility of leaving abusive relationships unscathed by society.
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