Darling film review

After last weeks debacle Ram Gopal Varma returns to his comfort zone by delivering an engaging and original thriller. The opening scene sets the pace of the film and you immediately realise that Aditya ( Fardeen) is a married man with a roving eye.

His affair with Geeta ( Esha) is introduced with vigour, and full of lust- in fact Varma makes it point not to succumb to clichés that we are so familiar with. Aditya has his cake and eats it well, with an adoring wife Ashvini (Isha) at home and the crazy mistress Geeta (Esha) outside.

Things seem to be going well for Aditya till the day he is told of Geeta's pregnancy. He simply decides to arrange the abortion and end the affair. But Geeta refuses to adhere to his wishes and starts slapping him. Aditya's one fatal push leads to Geeta's untimely death.Terrified with his actions he decides to bury the body and return home as if nothing happened. 

But Geeta wants revenge and puts her plan in action – as a ghost she decides not to scare or haunt him but instead get him to accept that he had wronged her. She does this brilliantly by appearing at the most opportune moments in his life. The first time Aditya realises that something is a miss is when he hears Geeta singing a song. This is followed by her turning up under his office desk.  

It's Varma's confidence in the script and screen play that allows him to experiment with camera angles, the pace of the movie and mixing real and surreal situations faced by Aditya. The one that I found hilarious was when Ashvin is seducing Aditya and Geeta turns up and slaps him as Ashvin is trying to kiss him.

Whilst Fardeens monologue in the climax scene could have been sharper there is nothing really that one can falter in the film. Once you get past Fardeens bloated look, you are left surprised by the way he executes the different shades of his character. Esha as the main protagonist simply steals the show and for once does'nt over act. In fact her subtle use of her eyes are enough to draw you in.

Isha has little to do and bar one scene she is effective as the wronged wife.  Overall Darling is an interesting film that gives Horror is different meaning. 3 and half stars 

Review by Rani Bansal.