Alia Bhatt has done it again, time and again our cute mommy-to-be Alia Bhatt has proved what great of an actor she has become. Everything from her choice of the script to her class apart acting has pushed her to a greater level, making her everyone’s favorite.

One such quirky yet fantastic movie that everyone looked forward to was — Darlings!

This movie brings forward the issue of Domestic Violence in India and gives it an edge when the perfect revenge takes place.

The husband is an alcoholic who holds no remorse for assaulting his wife every night, the wife is head over heels in love with the man and doesn’t mind cooking breakfast — the staple bun omelet — every morning for him with bruises all over — this may be a regular occurrence in many Indian households, but rarely gets talked about the way it should.

Picking a subject like domestic violence for a dark comedy isn’t ideal, but Darlings, starring Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, and Vijay Varma, manages to hit the nail on the head. Directed by debutante Jasmeet K Reen, it is a quirky (as ironical as it may sound) take on how abuse against women and men is normalized. Nothing justifies the actions of either, but it’s interesting to see the story pan out so that it never really looks unsettling.

Badrunissa Shaikh aka Badru (Bhatt) is smitten by roadside Romeo Hamza Shaikh (Vijay Varma), and marries him as soon as he secures himself a government job. Cut to three years later and life after marriage, we see Bhatt getting beaten up every night for a new reason every time. Sometimes it’s a kankar in the food, sometimes just because she sat in a colony meeting without the husband’s consent. And once because he thinks she’s having an affair. The intensity of abuse gets disturbing and more intense with each day, until one day when Badru decides to stand up and take charge. From that point, Darlings shows how a middle-class mother-daughter duo (Shah and Bhatt), who are caught in their own circumstantial hang-ups, gradually discovers their inner strength to survive in a city like Mumbai, battling all odds.

The very normal Indian household setting along with the eerie (to our surprise) childhood stories are nothing less than a Turkish delight. One minute you might have an increased heart rate and the other bursting with laughter.

A fresh take on cinema is needed. One thing we missed- was a theatrical release.