Darlings, a dark comedy that sees a mother and daughter joining forces to bring the daughters’ truant husband to book, marks Alia Bhatt’s debut as producer. Directed by debutant Jasmeet K. Reen, Darlings stars Alia, Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma and Roshan Mathew and is set to stream on Netflix on August 5.
Recently, The Telegraph caught up with Shefali, Vijay, Jasmeet and Alia — in what was among Alia’s first few interviews after the announcement of her pregnancy — at Mumbai’s Taj Lands End to chat about their unconventional film with an eclectic cast.
Jasmeet, what was the genesis of Darlings?
Jasmeet K. Reen: There is a message in the film and I always wanted to tell a story around it. I had an idea about a mother-daughter relationship where the two are trying to set something right in their life. And what they are trying to set right is the daughter’s husband. The daughter (Badrunissa, played by Alia Bhatt) and her husband (Hamza, played by Vijay Varma) love each other to death, but there is something off. The mother (Shamsunissa, played by Shefali Shah) and the daughter come up with all kinds of wacky ideas to teach him a lesson.
That was the germ of the idea and when I started working on the script, it became a dark comedy-thriller-drama. Honestly, I can’t put it into one genre, but we are calling it a dark comedy. However, there is a lot more in the film. The relationships between all the characters are very interesting.
For the actors, what intrigued you about this film? And Alia, why did you choose to debut as producer with Darlings?
Shefali Shah: It’s a terrific script. As Jasmeet said, it’s very difficult to put it into a particular genre. There is a very strong message. This is a reality that happens with a lot of women in a lot of households. I like to call this film a sugar-coated quinine... it’s easier to digest. How many films can you make with a moral of the story? The script and the characters really hooked me. It’s funny, it’s sensitive, it’s so well written, it’s emotional, it’s scary.... I was like, ‘This is great! I want to be a part of this’.
Alia Bhatt: When I heard the script for the first time, I didn’t hear it as a producer. I heard the narration as an actor. One rule that I made very early on as an actor is that even if I am busy, I will always hear a narration or read the script and then decide. When I heard the narration for Darlings, I had a very packed schedule... there was no place for me to fit in another film. I had met Jasmeet once on another film and I was like, ‘Achha, main sunn leti hoon’. I started hearing it, it was all very normal... and then the genre suddenly shifted! (Laughs) Something changed and my body language changed from this to this (shifts from a relaxed position to an all-attention stance) and that’s how I heard the rest of the script.
This was one of the few narrations in which I was so surprised... I didn’t know where the story was going. I am an actor who likes to be surprised. As in surprised in a good way, not in a way where I want to go and hide in my bathroom! (Laughs) And I was like, ‘Okay, you totally caught me off guard’. In this age of so much content and information, how does one get that attention? Jasmeet grasped my attention. So there I was in as an actor.
My involvement as a producer happened very organically. I felt that this would be a nice opportunity for me to start my journey as a producer. Gaurav (Verma, COO of Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, the co-producers of Darlings) was present at the meeting and he was very supportive of that (Alia turning producer). He was like, ‘You have been acting for so many years now and this is a good opportunity. Let’s do this together’.
And then Shah Rukh called me and said, ‘Main kisi ke saath co-produce nahin karta, lekin tere saath karunga’ (laughs). He just recently saw the film and he called me to say, ‘I am so happy we did this together’.
So me turning producer was no strategy, it happened very organically and it was driven by the film. I am very honoured to be producing a film like Darlings, to be able to tell a story like this.
Shah Rukh (Khan) called me and said, ‘Main kisi ke saath co-produce nahin karta, lekin tere saath karunga’. He just recently saw the film and he called me to say, ‘I am so happy we did this together’ — ALIA BHATT
Vijay, how much did you enjoy getting beaten up by Alia and Shefali? Almost the whole trailer has you getting beaten up by them!
Vijay Varma: I didn’t enjoy it at all!
Alia: Of course he did!
Shefali: He wanted more! (Laughs)
Vijay: This is bullying, guys! Honestly, when I read the script, I was pretty blown by it... I was shocked, in awe... all of those things happened. Alia’s manager had got in touch with me for the film and I was like, ‘Iss role ke liye mere baare mein kyun socha inn logon ne?!’ (Everyone laughs) I wanted to speak to the director and understand what she wants to say, in terms of her perspective and what she wants the tone of the film to be. Jasmeet told me that the tone is going to be very eclectic, very fun... she said, ‘We will make fun of these people, we will make fun of the situation. That’s the only way we can make this a little less painful’. The idea of this film is that if it’s a poignant moment, we need to reach out to as many people as possible, and humour is a good way to reach out. Then I got excited... and I was like, ‘Okay, this is interesting’. Otherwise, it could have ended up being a little bleak.
Jasmeet, you have a very eclectic cast. How did you arrive at this combination?
Jasmeet: Alia is the best Badrunissa ever, and I am so happy she happened to the film. Once Alia came on board, we were jamming on who could be Shamsunissa and Hamza. We met Shefali and Vijay and it fell into place so beautifully. Shef is exactly what we wanted for the character... she understood the script immediately. Vijay, as he said, had a lot of questions but once he understood why Hamza is the way he is — there is a lot of back story to these characters — he was on board. And then there was Roshan (Mathew), who I met on Zoom because we were doing this in the middle of the pandemic.... I am blessed that I have this cast because they are all super talented and once everybody was in character, there was so much back and forth and there were so many beautiful suggestions that came in from all of them....
I had an idea about a mother-daughter relationship where the two are trying to set something right in their life. When I started working on the script, it became a dark comedy-thriller-drama. Honestly, I can’t put it into one genre, but we are calling it a dark comedy — JASMEET K. REEN
Comedy is the most difficult to pull off on screen. Gleaning comedy from a dark space must have been tougher...
Vijay: I think it is the most fertile environment for humour. Dark means that you are immediately emotionally gripped and therefore you are relating to what is happening, and then you can surprise the audience and make them laugh.
Alia: When you aren’t playing for laughs, the comedy is much more effortless and easy and it is more situational. The viewer may be laughing, but the characters in that moment are very stressed out. The lens on certain situations in the film is humorous, but the difference is that we as characters are not playing for humour.
Shefali: The humour is in the script. These characters are not trying to be funny. When you are watching it from the outside, it just comes off as really funny. When one is at the peak of pain or anger, one tends to get delirious... that’s what happens here.
Alia: There is a point in the teaser where the cop is asking the mom and daughter, ‘Mere mathe pe kya likha hain?’ He’s asking them in the metaphorical sense, they respond seriously, but it comes off as comical.
Shefali: It’s written so nicely. But we didn’t have to go about it saying, ‘It’s such a brilliant line... let’s hit it!’ It had to be very organic and yet very funny.
The milieu of the film is very unconventional. The characters speak a mix of dialects. How did you arrive at that and how does that contribute to the story?
Jasmeet: Oh, a lot! I spent three months in Byculla (in south Mumbai). The lingo there is so beautiful...it’s a mix of Urdu, Hindi, English and Marathi. We had, of course, written the dialogues before, but I could add so much more to them after spending time in Byculla.
Even Vijay went to Byculla. Shef came to me one day and said, ‘Listen, I want to hear my character. I want to know what she sounds like’. We met a lady in Byculla and had biryani with her. I kept feeding Alia all this information I had gathered from Byculla. Alia is like a sponge... she just keeps listening. One never knows whether it’s all going in, and then in front of the camera, she just explodes!
So Byculla and the lingo is very important to Darlings and it adds a lot of flavour... it represents Bombay in a very interesting way because it’s a mix of all these cultures.
Alia: When I watch a film, the flavour is most important for me. It’s like that tadka to the food that you are eating. You may dress correct, you may say all the lines right, but that little flavour, that little twang matters a lot. We have a very interesting world in our film and I am happy with the way it’s come out on screen.
What was Alia like as a producer?
Vijay: She didn’t behave at all like a producer... I am disappointed! (Everyone laughs) She never said, ‘You can’t come late’....
Alia: On set, I am not! In fact, I would feel that too many things would be scheduled on one day and I would be like, ‘Listen guys, we need a breather’. As a producer, I was actually working against the sched! (Laughs)
On set, I am an actor. It is now when I actually feel like a producer because I am involved in many more levels than I am when I am just an actor.
Alia, as a producer, did you never think Darlings could be a big-screen release?
Alia: No, ya. I had very early on — when I had heard the script itself — said that I think this film should be a digital release. First, Darlings is a film that can cut across diaspora on Day One. It can reach out to so many households across the world because it has a theme which is very universal.
Also, the genre it belongs to and the kind of film Darlings is, a man and a woman may not want to go and watch the film in a theatre together because it is a little bit of an off-watch (smiles). As a man, I may not want to sit and collectively watch a man being tortured the way Vijay’s Hamza is in the film! (Laughs) So there is a certain viewing DNA of Darlings that I feel fits better in a home, fits better for private viewing.
Also, irrespective of where it’s shown, a good film will always travel and will always be remembered. When you watch a good film, you don’t remember where you saw it, you remember what you saw. I feel Darlings will travel and eventually get its due all across.
This is a film that defies genre. But in the dark comedy space, what would you say Darlings is closest to?
Alia: Something that we have discussed a lot among ourselves is how close the tone of our film is to Fleabag...
Vijay: I think Parasite is a good example.
Jasmeet: Also, Jojo Rabbit, in a rather twisted way.
Vijay: There is a (Martin) Scorsese film called New York, New York which is mind blowing.