Shah Rukh Khan Had These Suggestions for Vijay Varma’s Darlings Character Hamza

Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah and Vijay Varma’s Darlings was one of the most loved OTT films of this year. The film was jointly produced by Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment and Alia Bhatt’s Eternal Sunshine Productions and saw the latter play a woman stuck in an abusive relationship with her husband Hamza (played by Varma). The actor’s antagonistic character was hated by the viewers but Varma was praised for the way he portrayed a dark character. Hamza’s character also goes through a lot of hassle in the second half of the film for abusing his wife and his misery serves as a comic point in the story.

Now, in a recent interview, director Jasmeet K Reen said that it was Shah Rukh Khan’s idea to not let go of Haamza’s character in the second half of the film. She said, “He (SRK) said, ‘Hamza jo hai, second half mein usko chhodna mat (Don’t let Hamza go in the second half)’ and continued, “Obviously, we were not going to let him go but because the humour was just coming out of him being there, tied up or cracking a line. He said ‘chhodna mat (don’t let him go). Isme humour aa sakta hai (This can be humourous) and please cast someone who can do this.’ I think that was an important input because obviously we added a lot more Hamza after that. On a macro level, that worked.”

Meanwhile, Darlings recently landed several nominations at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards 2023. From being nominated for Best Picture, Direction, and Best Story to two other nominations for performances (Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah) in a leading role, the film is embarking on doing well this awards season.

On the work front, Vijay Varma will be seen in Sujoy Ghosh’s The Devotion of Suspect X. In this, he will share the screen with Kareena Kapoor Khan and Jaideep Ahlawat.