Alia Bhatt is going all-out to promote her maiden production, Darlings, despite the fact that she is expecting her first child. The actress was in Delhi on Tuesday with the cast and crew to launch the song La Iaaj from the film. Accompanying her were the film’s cast members Shefali Shah, Roshan Matthew, Vijay Varma and director Jasmeet K Reen.
Lailaaj is a soul-stirring song written by Gulzar, composed by Vishal Bhardwaj and sung by Arijit Singh. Talking about La Ilaaj, the legendary music director Vishal Bharadwaj shared, “Darlings is a unique film that deals with multiple strong and delicate emotions- and the songs in the film had to emulate the same. With La Ilaaj, we have attempted to create something soulful and fresh and I truly hope it resonates with audiences. It has been a wonderful experience collaborating with Alia Bhatt’s Eternal Sunshine Productions, Red Chillies Entertainment and Netflix to bring this tune to life.”
At the event in Delhi, Alia was asked how she was managing her work commitments during pregnancy. She said, “If you are fit and healthy, there is no need to take rest. Working gives me peace, it’s my passion, it keeps my heart, mind and soul alive and charged. So I would want to work till I am a hundred years old.”
She was also asked if after production, she was looking forward to taking on other roles in filmmaking. “One step at a time, I never say never,” Alia said.
Darlings is a dark comedy that delves into the lives of a resilient mother-daughter fighting for love and finding their footing in Mumbai whilst also battling their demons. Talking about strong women characters leading the film, Alia said, “You are seeing a mother-daughter dynamic like never before. What’s extremely beautiful in their relationship is how rare and honest this sort of dynamic is. The mother is suggesting all odd things, the daughter is sometime mothering the mother.”
Elaborating on the trend of women-centric films on the rise, Alia said, “It’s a great time now, with platforms like Netflix, there is so much scope for writers and creators to not be worried about the Day 1 box office number, and really explore, roles and characters very deeply. At the end of the day the endeavour always is to make a good film that touches the heart, whether it releases on OTT or in a theatre that really doesn’t matter. We are happy with great roles for women in any aspect. Even Vishal sir has given women such important pedestals in his movies and made them really the driving force. It’s not really about gender, I think women, man, just write good characters first, write a good story. Woh gender ka baad mein dekhenge. It doesn’t matter.”
