Thread by @PrayRona_

🧵
#Darlings is a film I loved thoroughly. Apart from the stellar performances by #AliaBhatt, #ShefaliShah and @MrVijayVarma, and the way in which director @djasmeet marries the triggering topic of domestic abuse with dark comedy...

Here are my 12 favourite touches in the film!

1/n
Superstition

When we first meet Badru in #Darlings, she's superstitious af (read naive.) Not stamping on discarded lemon-chilli totems, sprinkling salt over her shoulders. But at the story's turning point, she walks off calmly even as a black cat crosses her path. Resolute.

2/n
An Open Secret

Everyone in Badru's chawl knows about the horrific abuse. They hear it and turn their music up. They see her scars and flinch. The pharmacy boys automatically hand over an antiseptic liquid when she walks in, with no words exchanged.

#Darlings

3/n
The Morning After

Hamza's invariable demeanour every morning after is docile, cajoling. Sickeningly sweet. Sometimes he offers a non-apology, sometimes blames it on the drink, on other days he gaslights. The good cop bad cop routine an endless, frustrating loop.

#Darlings

4/n
Rage

After a night of particularly bad beating, Badru starts smashing plates after Hamza leaves for work. Her face contorted with rage. And hurt. She jumps when someone suddenly enters. Hamza? Thankfully, not. But the rage has morphed into paralysing fear already

#Darlings

5/n
Skin Deep

It takes Badru time to realise that the wounds Hamza leaves her with aren't skin deep. They are worse. Even when she has an opportunity to get rid of Hamza for good, she imagines herself with scars and black eyes.

#Darlings

6/n
It's Her Fault!

Of course the cops blame the violence right back on the victim. Twice in the same scene at that.

#Darlings

7/n
Gaslighter Max Pro

Hamza's gaslighting skills peak, obviously, when he lands in prison. Shrewdly turning around a pivotal moment in his favour, that even Shamsu describes as the only opportunity that Badru will get to start afresh.

#Darlings

8/n
Here's Johnny!

In a scene that echoes the iconic bathroom scene from The Shining, Hamza shatters the bathroom door and glares inside at a terrified Badru, trying to hide from a deranged, violent man.

#Darlings

9/n
The Boss

When the boss isn't busy trivialising women winning TV gameshows, or seeking thrill out of 2 women fist-fighting in public, he makes Hamza, a subordinate male employee, clean his toilet. An excellent representation of the culture that breeds Hamzas.

#Darlings

10/n
How The Tables Turn

Revenge is a dish best served cold and does Badru serve it well on the turned table!

#Darlings

11/n
AMAT / Not All Men

Not sure if Badru resolves a long-standing twitter feud, but we could all learn from her optimism.

#Darlings

12/n
Beginnings and Endings

#Darlings opens with Badru at the theatre to watch Badla (2019) with Hamza, as if to foreshadow her subsequent journey. And the story ends with her watching Zero (2018). Alone.
A fresh start from zero.

Fin.