Some time ago, Ranbir Kapoor said in an interview that he had written a script during the lockdown and he wishes to direct it.
During the trailer launch of the Netflix movie Darlings, which is produced by Alia Bhatt’s banner Eternal Sunshine, the actress was asked if she would like to produce a film on his script.
“It would be great,” said Bhatt. “We did discuss it, in fact. I actually said that if you don’t make me produce it, I will be very upset. I said if you don’t take me as an actor, it’s totally fine. But he said, 'No I need you [as an actress]'. As I consider myself a creative producer, I will produce it by giving my creative inputs at the writing stage [itself].”
Bhatt said that she, similarly, gave inputs for the casting of Darlings but she didn’t choose any actor. “I don’t choose,” she said. “In my opinion, [the] casting should be the director’s prerogative. If I am asked for a suggestion, I do give it.”
Directed by the first-time filmmaker Jasmeet K Reen, Darlings is a dark comedy where Bhatt plays the daughter of Shefali Shah. The story is about the mother-daughter duo, who abducts the latter’s husband, played by Vijay Varma.
Speaking about Shah’s casting, Bhatt said, “For me, this is first a mother-daughter story. That’s what first jumped out to me. I said whoever plays the mother is very important because she is a young mother. So there is a very interesting dynamic. [It’s] almost like a friendship. Both Jasmeet and I said it will be great if Shefali would be able to do it. And it all worked out perfectly."
As far as Varma’s casting is concerned, Bhatt asked Jasmeet K Reen if he would be fine for the role. “And I didn’t know [that] Jasmeet in her head had thought of Vijay when she was writing it,” said Bhatt. “When it came to Roshan [Mathew], Jasmeet found him and they did a Zoom. So I give inputs when asked, but choosing is not up to me.”
Also produced by Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, Darlings will be streamed on Netflix from 5 August.