Actor Vijay Varma says he was blown away by the fresh and fascinating script of his upcoming film, Darlings, a movie that treads a fine line between darkness and humour.

Starring Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah, who play mother-daughter duo, the film also marks the directorial debut of writer Jasmeet K Reen.

Vijay said he was a mixed bag of emotions when he first read the script, co-written by Reen and Parveez Sheikh.

“I was quite shocked and shaken by the script. At the same time, it intrigued me a lot. It walks a fine line between darkness and humour. I wanted to get more of an idea of what the director was thinking. So, we got on a call and I understood where she was coming from. The perspective she was trying to bring in made it so much more interesting for me,” said the actor, whose last film to hit the big screen was Baaghi 3.

On paper, Darlings explores the lives of a mother-daughter duo fighting against all odds to seek courage and love, but the Gully Boy actor said he felt Reen had more to say.

Vijay plays Hamza, a railway ticket collector and an abusive husband to Alia’s on-screen character Badrunissa in the Mumbai-based film.

Darlings offered an irresistible challenge that he had to take up, he said. “When you just read it on a paper, you get a sense of the story. But what is the director’s take on it? When I got to know that, I found it fascinating. It was deeply challenging and I had to take that challenge up. When you have a script that is so fresh and fascinating, an opportunity to work with Shefali Shah, Alia Bhatt, you don’t really have much to think about,” the actor added.

Darlings is produced by Alia Bhatt through her banner Eternal Sunshine Productions, in collaboration with superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment.

To get into the skin of his character Hamza, a man who lives in south Mumbai's Byculla area, Vijay underwent a series of workshops.

The 36-year-old actor said he followed the brief by Reen, who wanted the character to be played in a “slightly heightened” pitch.

“I worked a great deal with Jasmeet before I started filming. Alia, Shefali and I had read our parts and I figured quite early on that the more realistically I play the part, the more overbearing it can be. So we tried to bring a little bit of mazaa in it, amp it up a bit, and bring more flavour and juice,” he said.

Byculla, a bustling middle-class south Mumbai neighbourhood known for its distinct lingo, has a certain kind of flavour which, Vijay said, he tried to imbibe.

“There are certain habits of the character which you will see in the film,” he added.

Darlings is set to release on Netflix on August 5.