By:
Subhash
K.
Jha,
IndiaFM
Tuesday,
September
11,
2007
One
extra
star
goes
to
this
poor
ghost
film
only
for
Esha
Deol's
startling
presence
and
sterling
account
of
a
woman
whom
love
turns
into
a
roaming
spirit.
So
let"s
raise
a
toast
to
the
ghost.
As
the
devilishly
impish
Darling
in
disgust,
Esha
flies
high
which
performance
that
has
a
kite-like
velocity
to
it.
Esha
has
never
pulled
so
many
strings
from
her
histrionic
kitty.
She
brings
depth,
despair,
pathos
and
humour
into
her
rather
hazily
–written
role.
Esha
comes
across
hazily
for
more
than
one
reason.
Like
in
last
week's
Aag
Ram
Gopal
Varma
gets
together
with
his
over-experimental
DOP
Amit
Roy
to
shoot
Darling
in
a
bluish
lens-tinted
light
which
covers
the
ghostly
goings-on
in
a
pall
of
gloom.
But
Esha
brightens
up
even
the
dullest
frame.
Not
since
Arjun
Sablok's
Na
Tum
Jaano
Na
Hum
have
we
seen
her
seek
such
sensitive
alcoves
in
her
personality.
Taking
long
restless
unsettling
romps
between
frightful
bouts
of
misadventures
in
cafes
and
cinema-halls
(at
the
latter
venue,
the
narrative
starts
with
a
totally
out-of-context
item
song)
Varma
still
manages
to
give
Esha
the
camera
space
to
convey
the
restless
anguish
of
a
woman
scorned.
Restless
edgy,
fidgety
and
melancholy
Esha"s
eyes
penetrate
with
unblinking
pathos
into
Fardeen
Khan's
guilt-laden
conscience.
She
wacks
him
on
his
shoulders
and
thighs,
teases
and
torments
him
and
turns
her
tortured
personality
into
a
treatise
on
jilted
love.
It's
hard
to
feel
any
sympathy
for
Fardeen's
husbandly
betrayals
especially
since
the
actor
is
unable
to
come
to
grips
with
the
more
emotional
moments.
But
then
acting
isn't
about
trying,
specially
when
it
comes
to
crying.
When
he
whines
cringes
and
sobs
in
front
of
his
wife,
it's
Esha
silhouetted
in
the
background
often
with
her
head
buried
in
her
face,
who
catches
your
attention.
Esha
apart
(and
what
a
part!)
let
me
state
it's
time
for
Varma
to
stop
filling
up
the
background
of
his
frames
with
the
same
sets
of
character
actors,
like
Zakir
Husain
who
plays
the
most
annoying
hero's
sidekick-friend
ever
seen
in
a
Hindi
cinema.
As
for
Upayendra
Limaye
as
the
investigating
officer,
he
does
a
cross
between
Chiranjeevi
in
Pratibandh
and
Shakti
Kapoor
in
Insaaf
.
Limaye
has
a
glowering
female
accomplice
(everyone
knows
Ramu's
penchant
for
unusual
faces
but
this
seething
specimen
of
womankind
is
a
'cross'
apart
was
too
much)
who
looks
at
Fardeen
like
a
dish
of
roasted
ham
which
has
got
flies
on
it.
Whoever
said
cops
in
our
films
were
stereotyped?
Maybe
Varma's
vision
of
a
police
force
that
looks
like
an
extension
of
the
underworld's
underbelly
needs
to
be
revised.
It's
time
the
characters
stopped
looking
so
scruffy
and
casual
in
Varma"s
scheme
of
things.
In
Darling
the
director
often
focuses
on
the
protagonists'
feet,
pelvis
and
legs.
When
Fardeen
accidentally
kills
and
deliberately
buries
his
pregnant
secretary
he's
dressed
in
shorts,
as
though
the
character
pre-empted
the
hard
labour
that
awaited
him.
And
poor
Esha!
She
wears
a
white
kaftan
throughout.
The
wardrobe
lady
never
had
it
easier.
And
let
me
not
forget
the
shrink,
the
psychiatrist
played
by
Kota
Shrinivas
Rao….he's
seen
curing
a
patient
(played
by
Rasika
Joshi
who
played
Basanti's
mausi
last
week
in
Aag)
for
believing
she's
married
to
Shahrukh
Khan.
Me
thinks,
the
shrink
needs
a
shrink.
The
first-half
has
its
bouts
of
genuine
humour
especially
in
the
casual
way
Fardeen
frolics
flirts
and
fornicates,
all
in
one
breath
as
though
Sanjeev
Kumar
in
B.R.
Chopra's
Pati
Patni
Aur
Who
was
his
drool
model.
This
isn't
the
first
time
Fardeen
Khan
has
been
caught
by
Varma
on-camera
cheating
on
his
loving
wife.
Remember
Pyar
Tune
Kya
Kiya?
Will
someone
please
point
out
the
difference
between
Sonali
Kulkarni
in
that
film,
and
Issha
Koppiker
in
Darling?
Varma
has
a
keen
eye
for
domestic
details,
such
as
the
breakfast
babble
or
the
bedroom
backchat.
But
Fardeen
bonding
with
his
little
son
is
nil.
Bad
father
or
shy
director?
The
film
also
gets
a
surprising
quotient
of
romantic
overtures
hitherto
unknown
in
Varma's
dark
dry
and
dispassionate
domain.
Watch
Esha's
pleading
anguished
eyes
when
at
the
end
she
tells
her
errant
lover,
"Would
you
have
married
me
if
you
were
single?"
Love
never
stood
a
ghost
of
a
chance
in
Ramu's
cinema.