BOTTOM LINE
A Patience Test
RATING
1.75/5
CENSOR
U/A, 2h 20m
What Is the Film About?
Raghav (Priyadarshi) is a travel agent who grows up with the sole aim of marrying a nice girl and taking her to Paris for their honeymoon. After a failed attempt, he tries to commit suicide, only to be saved by Aanandi (Nabha Natesh). Raghav gets married but soon encounters many problems. What are those problems? What is wrong with Aanandi? What does Raghav do next? These questions form the rest of the story.
Performances
‘Darling’ predominantly features two artists: Priyadarshi and Nabha Natesh. Priyadarshi delivers his usual performance, doing well in most parts but leaving room for significant improvement in scenes where his character is in distress.
Nabha Natesh has a very important role in ‘Darling.’ The character demands a lot from her, especially in the second half, where she needs to behave eccentrically. In these parts, she struggles significantly. The writing problems also exaggerate the performance issues. Aanandi is a character that very few current-generation heroines get, making Nabha lucky to some extent, but it demands more from her, and unfortunately, she falls short.
Nabha’s makeup and styling are also a mixed bag.
Analysis
‘Darling’ is a pretty straightforward story. A guy is eager to get married and wants his honeymoon in Paris. He ends up with a wife who brings a lot of problems into his life. While he struggles to save the marriage, he sinks further into trouble. The director revealed the entire story in the trailer itself, reserving the emotional crux for the theaters.
To sell stories of this sort, one needs excellent writing to evoke comedy. Luckily, the ‘Multiple Split Personality’ concept provides enough scope to generate fun. All the director has to do is establish a strong premise, create situations, weave comedy around it, and finally finish the proceedings with a formal message to end the film. Director Aswin Raam fails from start to finish. The story is too predictable, and the writing is shallow from the word ‘GO.’
The foundation of the entire story lies in establishing Aanandi’s character and a strong reason for Raghav to get attached to her. Only if that works is there meaning to the rest of the proceedings. But there is nothing of that sort. We see the characters trying, but the comedy doesn’t work. The ‘Wife Troubles’ highlighted in the trailer also fall flat. The first half ends with very few comedic parts working, and we get the feeling that it is stretched just before the interval.
Even with the issues, the first half is not completely out of hand. There is a chance of revival if the director gets it right in the second half. But what happens there is complete chaos. Probably, it is when the director realizes he has a wafer-thin story. Sometimes one can be predictable and get away with it when entertaining, but the director overreached, and it backfired.
He tried to deviate and add more to the story to take it into an ‘unfamiliar zone’ in the name of mental health issues. But little did he know that would be an even bigger mistake. Immediately into the second half, too many characters, shades, and backstories are introduced. Nabha’s performance struggles, poor writing, too many confusing characters, and unworkable comedy make a mess of everything. The director clearly struggles to close all five threads. By the time they are done, we feel exhausted. The climax after a cameo makes things even worse. The movie is painfully 161 minutes long and feels even longer.
On top of that, there are unnecessary and needless double-meaning dialogues. In the name of generating comedy, cheap writing tricks are used for vulgar humor.
Overall, Darling is yet another film that falls into the category of movies where the concept might have seemed exciting but did not translate well to the screen. What we got is an overly lengthy, boring, and messy narrative that tests the viewer’s patience.
Performances by Others Actors
D. Krishna Teja and Vishnu Oi play the hero’s friends, but poor writing limits their scope. Ananya Nagalla as Doctor Nandini is alright within the extent of her character. Muralidhar Goud plays the hero’s father and has a very limited role. Brahmanandam is confined to only a couple of shots. Raghu Babu performs as expected in his small role. Balagam Venu plays the role of a Baba and is irritating; again, the character is not well-written. The rest of the characters have very little screen time.
Music and Other Departments?
The flaws in Aswin Raam’s writing and direction have already been discussed. Sai Hemanth’s dialogues work here and there, but largely, it is a missed opportunity. Vivek Sagar delivers a decent background score in many places; however, the songs do not add much value to the proceedings. Naresh Ramadurai’s visuals are fine for the film’s budget. Editing by Pradeep E. Raghav isn’t impressive; the film feels excessively lengthy for no reason.
The production values by Primeshow Entertainment are good for a cast and film like this.
Highlights?
A few comedy portions
Drawbacks?
Direction
Poor writing
Patience-testing scenes
Lengthy runtime
Disappointing climax
Did I Enjoy It?
No
Will You Recommend It?
No
Darling 2024 Movie Review by M9
M9 U.S. Premiere Report: Darling
Darling is the kind of film that has a chance to entertain despite its familiar core idea. All it needs is some good writing for the comedy to work. However, everything gets messed up after the director tries too many things. The film also feels overly lengthy.
Darling needs a solid ‘performer’ for the lead female cast, which is a miss here.
A more detailed and constructive M9 review is coming soon.
‘Darling’ begins with the lead pair Priyadarshi and Nabha Nagesh meeting in an unexpected place and situation. Stay tuned for the M9 U.S. premiere report.
Stay tuned for Darling 2024 Telugu Movie Review, USA Premiere Report.
Cast: Priyadarshi, Nabha Natesh, Ananya Nagalla, Brahmanandham, Moin, Shiva Reddy, Muralidhar Goud
Written and Directed by Aswin Raam
Produced by K Niranjan Reddy & Smt. Chaitanya
Music : Vivek Sagar
Cinematographer: Naresh Ramadurai
Editor: Pradeep E Raghav
U.S. Distributor: Nirvana Cinemas
Darling 2024 Telugu Movie Review by M9
