How Shah Rukh Khan broke his thumb rule for Alia Bhatt in Darlings

Alia Bhatt is not only acting in Jasmeet K Reen’s Netflix movie Darlings but also producing it along with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment. During the trailer launch of the film, she said that the script of the film came to her just when she was looking for a subject to produce.

“When Darlings was narrated to me, [at the start] I felt, let’s see where it was heading,” she said. “I didn’t know what the film was about; I was totally blank. It started as a normal story, but suddenly it just shifted gear and how! I was so surprised and I am very rarely surprised.” 

This was enough for Bhatt to zero in on Darlings as her first film as a producer. “Very naturally, I said I think I would like to be the producer on this as well. Gaurav [Verma, COO of Red Chillies Entertainment], at the time, was extremely supportive. He said that’s a fantastic idea; we must do this together.” 

Bhatt was also happy that Khan broke his thumb rule just for her. “Shah Rukh called me and said, ‘I don’t usually co-produce [with any other production house] but I will do with you. We will have fun and it will be quite good and one for the memories’. Recently, he saw the film and messaged me in typical Darlings lingo, ‘Thanks you darlings for doing this movies (sic)'," she said.

Also starring Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma and Roshan Mathew, Darlings will be streamed on Netflix from 5 August.