Darlings: Alia Bhatt, Shah Rukh Khan collaborate for dark comedy

Actor Alia Bhatt on Monday announced her maiden production, Darlings, a dark comedy about a mother-daughter duo that also brings her on screen with Shefali Shah for the first time. Darlings is co-produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment.

The announcement came a day after Alia revealed on social media that she had turned a producer under the banner Eternal Sunshine Productions. Besides the first-time producer, Darlings will have a debutante director in Jasmeet K Reen. The film also stars Vijay Varma and Roshan Mathew, last seen in Anurag Kashyap’s Choked.

Darlings, set against the backdrop of a conservative lower middle-class neighbourhood in Mumbai, is said to be a story of a mother-daughter duo, who finds courage and love in exceptional circumstances. Alia, Shah Rukh and the rest of the team unveiled the film’s teaser, which ends with a “statutory warning”, “Offending women can be very dangerous for your health.”

Darlings marks the second collaboration of Alia and Shah Rukh after the 2016 Gauri Shinde-directed Dear Zindagi, where the two stars shared screen space. Jasmeet who has written films like Pati Patni Aur Woh and Force 2, said she was excited to begin shooting the film with a dream cast, whom she calls her “partners in crime.”

“With the brilliant Alia and Shefali portraying the mother-daughter duo, along with exceptionally talented Vijay (Varma) and Roshan (Mathew) we have a dream cast and the perfect ‘partners in crime’ if I can call them that. We couldn’t have asked for anything more and now I can’t wait to get on the floor.”

The film goes on floors this month. Besides Darlings, Alia Bhatt has Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, which arrives in theatres on July 30.