Darling (2007)

The Worst Film Ever

The Age of Commercialism

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

This fast-paced film will have you on the edge of your seat, and totally blown away by the ending. The realism is convincing (not the usual melodrama one might expect for a plot involving adultery and deception), and Fardeen, Esha, and Isha all deliver excellent performances.The errant husband (Fardeen), living is his own fantasy world of having the perfect wife at home (Isha) and the sexy mistress on the side (Esha), soon finds 'reality' crashing down around him, and his world becomes a living nightmare, with a vengeful ghost only he can see -- and she terrorizes him mercilessly, in every part of his life, no matter how personal or intimate the situation; amazingly-crafted scenes throughout the film.The climax, totally-unexpected, is jaw-dropping -- don't miss this movie!

Happy New Year all, I'm not nagging. Watch this film and tell me it's not a mix-bag of RAAZ and YAKEEN. Fardeen Khan plays Aditya Soman, a man having an office affair with his tempestuous secretary Geeta Menon played by Esha Deol. Isha Koppikar (in one of her best roles to date) disappears into a traditional sari and mangal sutra to play Aditya's unsuspecting yet inexplicably sexy wife, Ashwini. The Soman household is then thrown into peril upon the accidental death of Geeta during a fight with Aditya, when she returns from the grave to haunt them. Sometimes in Ram Gopal Varma's films I usually find myself wondering why one character or the other has to inexplicably high on something. This particular film had one too many. The best thing about Darling is that no matter how boring is gets even after the plot twist, it still mysteriously keeps you watching. It's not a horror film, it's scary in a very psychological way. Khan does his best to keep us interested in whether or not Aditya finds some absolution following his philandering ways. Deol is as wicked as she was in Ankahee but Koppikar as the refined Ashwini stands out and makes you wonder what her Aditya must have been smoking to go out and cheat on her with Geeta.I liked the songs (there were just three of them but oh! well...), and my only complaint about the film is that is dragged on and on at some points. The ending was explosive but kind of predictable. What a great punishment for a man hopelessly devoted to two women.

Post RGV Sholay, I dreaded to watch another Film Factory product. With expectations pined below zero, I begun watching the movie.Should the ghosts and spirits movie necessarily scary? RGV seems to have been inspired by Shaun Of The Dead which was a horror flick loaded with comedy.Fardeen Khan's role is akin to Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya only more sleazy husband.Isha Koppikar doesn't have much scope as a doting housewife and obviously running on older version when it comes to matters behind the closed doors. Seriously if you put the jigsaw pieces together it reveals what RGV is fetish about! Eesha Deol gets the meaty pie and this time she dons the Urmila's role in Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. Only more freer, vengeful and spirited.... literally and figuratively.Zakir Hussain (a RGV regular) gets it wrong completely this time – he irritates. And so does Kota Srinivas Rao, both the roles should have been chopped completely.Upendra Limaye role should have been given more depth. And her killer-looks assistant was hilarious.Background score adds to the eerie atmosphere.The RGV style of camera-work is predominant here. Thankfully not struck (permanently at least!) to heroine's back as in his earlier works. Seriously is the cinematographer partner in crime too? Last but not the least, stop the close-up camera work. We have had enough! Darling does invoke good laughs thanks to the efforts by the lead actors. Though the end is contrived.

I kind of like Darling, I love it when direction and writing is so shoddy that I can tell what's going to happen and instead of insulting my intelligence the director makes me feel special by doing everything that I thought would happen (ie the ending). RGV has lost the plot, he needs to go into hiding and think of something special and even when he does that, his film will still tank simply because the audience isn't going to trust him anymore. It's going to take at least two or three films (even if they are all good) before the audience touches his films once again.The film itself is dreadfully slow paced. I have no idea what genre the film is (even after watching it) so I think I'll view it as a comedy/horror/drama. The writing is rushed beyond belief and is hindered by the non-acting of Esha Deol and Fardeen Khan (they should stop and find something else to do), when they look like they're supposed to be passionate and kissing each other they come off looking as two drunken teenagers stumbling around. Another thing is that Esha's character is hardly established, so – there's no real reason for the audience to feel anything for him. Khan's character is a boob that cheats on his wife (without any reason, so without providing one – there's no room for him to be a sympathetic character, why even bother if you're not going to have at least one sympathetic main character?). Though the film starts to pick up pace once Deol's character is re-introduced in the film as a ghost.Break down is like this.Deol is pregnant but Khan is married. Khan wants an abortion. Deol wants the baby and attacks Khan in a rage. Khan protects himself by shoving her, yes by shoving a pregnant woman. She trips and falls, hits her head and dies. With her eyes wide open.End breakdown.I didn't mind the music; the videos are introduced through fairly interesting but used ideas such as a dream and watching a film within a film. Either way, they brought nothing to the story.The writing makes me wonder what the person was smoking. It kind of reminded me of some play by Noel Coward that I can't remember (in which a man is haunted by his dead wife, so if you know what I'm talking about please say what it is). There are a couple of hilarious scenes such as Deol's ghost hiding under the table and touching Khan's new secretary on the leg making her think that Khan's character is …well…molesting her. Other than that, the laughs come from the dismal direction and awful writing and horrendous acting.One thing to watch out for…Deol's ghosts father comes to pay Khan a visit, he begs him to use his power so they can find Deol's character. And RGV decides that it's an episode of NYPD Blue and begins to zoom in and out of close ups like the world is going to end tomorrow (either that or the camera man had taken some sort of illegal substance before the scene was shot).Overall…2/10. One star is because you have to vote a one, and the second is because the film provided some unintentional laughs.So this, I'd actually say watch it if you want to see something so horrible that its actually strangely…passable (hope you take note of the fact I didn't use good).