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Reviews
Darlings (2022)
No, that's not really "Dark Comedy"
Ever had a pudding that looked exquisite and smelled delicious but turned out to be a little undercooked as you took the first bite? Almost telling you that the cook had quality ingredients at their disposal but failed to fully satiate your senses. It is akin to how Darlings made me feel.
Looking at the cast and having heard a positive thing or two about the film, I went in to watch with considerable expectations but was rendered feeling underwhelmed at the end of it. While one can point out at the lack of remarkable dialogues and a fairly lackluster climax; at heart, it seems as if the makers weren't manifestly clear about what kind of emotions they wanted the audience to feel through the course of the movie.
The description on Netflix says that the film is a "dark comedy". In essence, it's a story about domestic violence loaded with slapstick elements. Just because the fulcrum of the plot is a sensitive issue, doesn't make it a dark comedy.
Ironically, there's a scene in the movie where Hamza (played by Vijay Varma) asks Zulfi (played by Roshan Mathew) about the film that he's writing. When Zulfi tells he's been working on a horror-comedy, Hamza replies with, "Agar faluda mein whiskey milayega, toh thodi jamega" (If you mix Faluda and Whiskey, it's likely to taste bad). It is funny that you could say something along similar lines about Darlings itself. While the comedy never quite sets you on a laughing spree, it does digress the makers from several opportunities where they could have made the audience feel visceral emotions.
The entire second half shows Badru (played by Alia Bhatt) turning the tables on her husband Hamza and avenging the constant abuse she had borne. It feels as if somebody penned down the intrusive thoughts of revenge that go through the mind of a victim of domestic violence and brought them to life. However, it seems to go a notch too far as she constantly drugs Hamza and thereby severely dilutes the impact of the climax. In fact, as we go through scenes of policemen not even considering the man being a victim of domestic abuse, it is very much possible to feel unempathetic towards Badru when she's eventually set free.
The cast has proven artists. With their high standards, it is hard to see this being Alia's or Vijay's best performance. Shefali Shah outshines everybody. Plotwise, the depth of Hamza's character, along with some obvious 'conflicts' that could be brought to forefront seem like unexplored territories. All in all, the film leaves a fair bit to desire.
Pyaar Ka Punchnama (2011)
Punches above it's weight...
Pyaar ka Punchnama throws at you several punches, most of which land before you numb down into boredom. But it eventually picks itself up and knocks you out with scenes that bring out visceral emotions. All in all, it punches above it's weight.
The story is about three young men living together and leading lives of stereotypical bachelors. They're messy, foul-mouthed and carefree loners. But pure-hearted and know how to have a good time. They work jobs that they hate and use loud music and alcohol to cope with the stress that it brings. Always up for a party and definitely up for a chance to romance, even though they might not get as many as they'd like.
In just the first few scenes of the movie, Divyendu who plays Nishant a.k.a. Liquid sells the authenticity of the character with his seemingly effortless performance. He's the biggest loner in the group, clumsy in front of girls and knows there aren't many in his league. He would soon develop feelings for his co-worker Charu (played by Ishita) who'd friendzone him and later manipulate him to get her own work done.
As Nishant's struggles with his feelings for Charu unfold, we see the other two roommates - Rajat (played by Kartik) and Vikrant (played by Rayoo) - make romantic connections with Neha (played by Nusrat) and Rhea (played by Sonali), respectively. Through the movie, we see these three boys go through the journeys of relationships that eventually turn toxic and start to scar them emotionally.
The movie starts off being a fun, relatable, brashy humour laden film. As the boys fall in love, it does a pretty good job of transmitting the feeling of warm effervescence that a novel relationship brings. It starts throwing a few more comedic punches as the boys choose to ignore the subtle red flags that their relationships manifest.
At this point, it almost becomes a series of jokes that might come from the same school as the boomer-humour jests about wives. But still feel new and relatively closer to reality as they're written for the modern relationships. What further helps the punches land is the background music that mostly consists of dog noises.
However, this carries on for a little too long. Long enough that you're forced to look at your clock and realise that you're well over an hour into the movie and still don't have a sense of the direction it may take. You're driven to look at the runtime and realise that over an hour still remains. It is at this point that the movie starts to lose it's audience. It is at this very juncture that the spectators begin to question if it would be worth to stay to watch the end or not. While it seems unlikely at this stage, it is indeed worth staying and watching the last hour unfold.
You almost get a sense that the story needs a big twist, an unexpected bang, a dramatic-cinematic event that spurs life into it. It never comes. And that, you eventually realise, is the beauty of it.
The subtle red flags, the foolishness of characters in ignoring them that make you cringe at times, the ostensible directionlessness of the relationships - it all builds up and explodes in your face in scenes that bring out emotions more visceral than you thought they'd be.
A lot of credit for that goes to the brilliant acting performances as well as the music in the second half of the film. The song Banware is one of the most remarkably placed songs in any movie.
Divyendu and Nusrat steal the show with their performances. While Divyendu effortlessly makes Nishant look like a typical Delhi boy you ever met, Nusrat evokes visceral feelings out of the audience as her character displays very nuanced manipulative tactics to get her boyfriend in control. Kartik might seem fairly average throughout the movie, but he absolutely kills it in two very important scenes - one is the famous monologue, the other is where he breaks down in tears and kneels and hugs his girlfriend in a bid to try to keep her from getting away, while also subconsciously realising that he's been weakened and manipulated to great lengths by her and is by no means in a healthy relationship.