Produced by Red Chillies Entertainment and Eternal Sunshine Productions, Darlings released on the 5th of August on Netflix. 

The film has been receiving great reviews since then, because the performances were stellar and the plotline was quite interesting, to say the least. But one particular scene from the movie seems to have caught people’s attention online. 

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It is a scene where Badru (played by Alia Bhatt) and her mother Shamshunissa (played by Shefali Shah) are filing an FIR against Badru’s husband, Humza (played by Vijay Varma) for domestic violence. 

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When, Shamshunissa is speaking to the police officer (played by Vijay Maurya) about the scenario, he is trying to make her understand how the times have changed and women can easily take a stand against abuse or domestic violence now. 

To which, Shashunissa replies and says that that’s what the internet likes to believe, but it is far from true for people who are living the harsh reality. 

And we’ve got to give it to the movie for writing such a dialogue in because it’s easy to discuss standing up to abuse and patriarchy online without knowing the struggles of actually having to fight through and survive it! There are uncountable women who are still fighting circumstances we might consider archaic. 

Unfortunately, the times haven’t changed all that much. And, only a person who has lived through abuse and has had to fight patriarchy tooth and nail knows how much we’ve progressed as a society. Not to mention that the battles that a massive portion of women from marginalized communities and minorities are fighting are rarely discussed with serious consideration online. 

Here’s how some people responded to the post:

Only people who are living such harsh realities, or have experienced abuse can truly understand that society isn’t progressing as fast as the we like to believe it is.