MELBOURNE, 9 August 2022: Red Chillies Entertainment & Eternal Sunshine Productions’ Darlings, directed by Jasmeet K Reen started streaming on Netflix on August 5, 2022, and has been creating waves including some controversy across India and globally. Domestic abuse or violence or intimate partner violence is considered a curse on society.
According to the United Nations (UN), “Domestic abuse can happen to anyone of any race, age, sexual orientation, religion, or gender. It can occur within a range of relationships including couples who are married, living together, or dating. Domestic violence affects people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and education levels.”
During childhood, I saw a husband beating his wife in the neighborhood and a woman badly injured and bleeding and brought to a doctor (my mother). I was too young to understand what was happening. Later, the wife-beater married another woman, and the earlier one continued to live on the same premises. Then there was a divorced woman with a child, she was frowned upon by most neighbors.
Yes, men also suffer (or face abuse) but what I saw is embedded in my mind. Global stats including those from India speak for themselves. The gender angle is there and women face most of the abuse, coming from the near and dear ones. Director Jasmeet K Reem’s Darlings delves into cruel relationship issues some think of as ‘Ghar ke Andar ka mamala’.
Protagonists Badru (Alia Bhatt) and her mom played by Shefali Shah, struggle with Badru’s troubled and tense relationship with her hubby Hamza acted by Vijay Verma. Helped by Zulfi, and Roshan Mathew, the dark comedy becomes a revenge thriller. During the pre-release days, Darlings was flayed for promoting domestic abuse against men. The fact that the story is about a Muslim middle-class family where women raise the pitch, irritated those with closed minds.
The niceties of the movie are laced with excellent acting by Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, and Vijay Verma. The realistic portrayal of an abused wife’s day-to-day suffering is heart-wrenching. The relationship between the mother (herself abused) and the abused daughter is done finely. The abuser husband’s indignation against the mother-in-law adds to the human drama.
This is a message movie from Mumbai where in the end one is made to think. The question remains will we do something about it? Or, just remain ‘sanskari’ (traditionalists) and pay lip service to this tribulation.
I commend the movie not just for its content but also for the simple way life’s sad episodes are weaved. One can differ on this and that but not on how a human (man) mistreats another human (woman).
Produced by Gauri Khan, Alia Bhatt, and Gaurav Verma, the film is also the feature film debut for director Jasmeet K Reen.
I give this movie 4 out of 5 stars.
