With the tag line that reads "A killer love story", Darling thrills just a bit and turns out to be an average in every department.

First, the introduction of characters. Fardeen Khan is Aditya, a successful married man and the father of a son. He also has an affair with his office colleague. The story of Darling revolves around this adulterated husband who is haunted by the ghost of his dead mistress.

Esha Deol plays the role of Geetha Menon, a wildcat yet gorgeous girlfriend of Aditya. She always believed that Aditya would ditch his wife and child for her anytime she wants him to. But the truth behind the man's intention unravels when she informs him of her pregnancy. The dispute that arises accidentally leads to her death. She returns as a vengeful ghost.

Isha Koppikar plays the role of Aditya's wife Ashwini. She is a traditional house wife unaware of her husband's illicit relationship. She does whatever is possible to get her husband out of the stress.

The story of 'Darling' makes it looks like a horror movie, but it doesn't do full justice to the genre it belongs. With extended silence, sudden loud noise and excellent background score the first half of the movie thrills to a certain extent. Post interval, the pace slackens and gets the shade of a comical. The Ghost doesn't haunt you, but rather is very loveable. Ever heard a Ghost say 'I Love You', well RGV's ghost does. With a rare mixture of horror and comedy, this attempt of RGV seems amateurish and unexamined. RGV should have thought of more appropriate sequences.

Prasana Shekhar's background score augments some scenes and keeps the sense of 'horror' alive. Amit Roy is excellent with camera. Some of the sequences in the first half are brilliantly shot. Music by Himesh Reshammiya, Pritam Chakraborty, and Prasana Shekhar are good.

Fardeen Khan was good in his last release, Heyy Babyy. But in Darling his performance is flawed. Esha Deol has put in effort to live up to the expectations of the character that demands histrionics. She is excellent in most of the scenes and is great throughout. Isha Koppikar delivers a good performance even with her limited role. Her role actually takes shape only in the second half of the movie. Zakir Hussain's performance is praise worthy. The rest of the cast are good.

Overall, Darling scores an average in every department. May be not worth a watch in theatre, rent a DVD when it's out.

By Ashok Nayak
Source : Nowrunning.com

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