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Darling

Darling : Movie Review
07th Sept 2007 23.14 IST
By Aparajita Ghosh

Darling is not exactly a horror film. Besides the spooky angle, the movie has ample moments of light humour. But it is the unpredictability element in the story that makes the movie watchable.

It wasn’t with many expectations that I went to see this film. The horror of Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag still haunts me. But Ramu, being a man who can even prove himself wrong, surprises yet again with this week’s release ‘Darling’.

It is hard to classify ‘Darling’ in any genre. It is neither a horror movie, nor a comedy nor a love triangle. Yet, in an eerie way, the movie is all of these. It has a comic track that begins in the first half and returns again in the second half. In between, there is an accidental murder followed by some spooky horror. Completing the pot-pourri is the customary song-and-dance, with Nisha Kothari adding the glamour quotient.

Fardeen Khan , Esha Deol and Isha Koppikar play the main characters in the story.

Aditya (Fardeen) is happily married to Ashwini (Isha Koppikar) and has a son from her. Yet, at his office he has a secret affair with his gorgeous secretary Geeta (Esha Deol).

Aditya lusts for Geeta and soon manages to bed her. As he enjoys the best of both worlds, Aditya maintains a fine balance between Ashwini and Geeta through well-crafted lies.

But then things go awry. He accidentally kills Geeta. And the unsatisfied lover returns as a ghost to haunt Aditya. Everywhere he goes, he finds her – underneath his office desk, and in his bedroom. And he is the only one who can see and hear her.

Ram Gopal Varma maintains an unpredictability factor throughout the film. The horror in the film isn’t gory or macabre. But yes, it does hit you at times, making your heart skip a beat now and then. And all credit for this should go to Esha Deol.

Esha really looks convincing in her part as the ghost of the dead mistress. Her brooding expressions, her steely glances and her ruffled hair give her an air of an apparition. She is superb in the sequence when she appears besides Fardeen and Isha in bedroom when they are about to make love.

Fardeen Khan acts well but his dialogue delivery is very mechanical. His diction is flat and has little modulation to express thoughts and emotions. Yet, Fardeen digs his teeth well into his complex character and brings out his many shades (from philandering to phobic).

Isha Koppikar is somewhat marginalized but she enacts her part of a middle-class wife with conviction.

The film’s music is pretty average. Tadap Tadap and Aa Khushi are the two songs that stand out. Varma doesn’t rely too heavily on background score to create a shocking effect. Rather he uses camera angles to build an eerie atmosphere on the screen.

‘Darling’ works because all its ingredients fall into right places. The movie will entertain you and spook you mildly. All in all, a harmless watch.

Rating: **1/2

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Darling
Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag
Nisha Kothari
Fardeen Khan
Esha Deol
Isha Koppikar
Ram Gopal Varma