Alia Bhatt reveals why she chose Darlings to release on OTT and not in theatres

Alia Bhatt co-produced Darlings along with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment.

It began streaming on Netflix from August 5. The film is a dark comedy and features Vijay Varma and Shefali Shah along with Alia in the lead. The Gull Boy actress has bankrolled Darlings under her banner Eternal Sunshine, which is a dark comedy directed by debutant Jasmeet K Reen. In an exclusive chat with IndiaToday.in, Alia Bhatt spoke about the reason for releasing the film on OTT instead of theatres.

ALIA BHATT ON WHY SHE CHOSE OTT RELEASE FOR DARLINGS
When asked Alia Bhatt if it was always her plan to release Darlings digitally, the actress quickly replied ‘Yes’. Further explaining the reason, Alia said, “It was not something that we discussed during the pandemic. In 2019 we all had met with regards to Darlings, that’s where the initial talks began.

Then in 2020, the world went into lockdown, but from the very beginning, we said that this is that kind of film which on a platform like Netflix will be very good, for various reasons. On Day 1 itself you reach out to over 190 countries, so who wouldn’t want that reach? As we all know the world has become a very small place thanks to content lying on OTT. We are consuming content of all languages – Korean, Spanish, South Indian, etc. It is something that has become very easily accessible now. We don’t have to take a flight or go to film festivals, it’s just a unique way of consuming content.”

ALIA CALLS DARLINGS AN INTIMATE WATCH
She continued, “Also Darlings is not a large-scale, larger-than-life sort of spectacle, it’s an intimate, intricate story of all these characters and their lives and their journeys. So,I don’t mind where you watch it as long as you watch it. A film like Gangubai (Kathiawadi) you had to consume that film in the theatre first because that was the style, it was just a spectacle. But, Darlings is not that kind of a film, I am not saying it negatively. I’m just saying that it’s an intimate watch. So, I don’t mind watching it by myself. We are very happy that it is releasing on a platform like Netflix.”

ALIA’S FAMILY LOVED DARLINGS
Alia also revealed that her family loved Darlings and had only good things to say about the film. She said, “When my father and my mother both love something they go on and on. Even Neetu aunty, when she saw the film, she also kept praising it. I feel like these are people who don’t need to praise me because they believe in not praising too much. They have that attitude that they want me to keep myself grounded, but they were extremely surprised and impressed. All those lovely words that you want to hear after the movie, they had all that to say.”

Ask her who is her biggest critic and she said, ‘My audience. See I don’t have the biggest critic like that. I think everybody is an audience at the end of the day. Having said that, there are a few people in my life who are very difficult to please, they don’t like anything that I do. Won’t name them, they are just a few friends of mine. For a change they really liked Darlings, so for me, it was like a win-win.”