Shefali Shah opens up about her spontaneous kissing scene in Darlings: 'I thought, 'Hain, ye kya ho gaya’'

Darlings, the most recent movie starring Alia Bhatt and Shefali Shah, has received acclaim from all quarters since it was made available on Netflix last week. Both audiences and critics have praised director Jasmeet K Reen's dark comedy. The tale and scenario, which is packed with twists and turns, have received appreciation from many. Shefali Shah and Roshan Mathew, two cast members, talked about one such unexpected twist that has become the talk of the town.

In the movie Darlings, the mother-daughter duo of Badru (Alia) and Shamshu (Shefali Shah) exact revenge on Badru's abusive husband Hamza (Vijay Varma) with the reluctant assistance of Zulfi (Roshan Mathew), their friend and confidante. Throughout the movie, it is indicated that Zulfi likes Badru, but near the conclusion it is made clear that he prefers the mother than the daughter. Shefali's character kisses him in a sequence that is both funny and touching at a pivotal moment. Many have discussed how naturally the kiss between an older woman and a younger man is included in the film because of the unanticipated nature of the kiss and how it was captured.

Talking about the scene, Shefali said, “That took me completely by surprise when I read the script. There are two moments that completely took me by surprise. One was this and one was in the end when you visit Shamshu’s past. This was unexpected. I thought, ‘hain, ye kya ho gaya’ (wow, what just happened).”

The scene occurs when Shamshu feels it was the best method to silence Zulfi because he was threatening to tell the police about the women holding Hamza captive. “It’s such a sweet and delicate moment and it had to be handled that way. She does it because she wants to shut this man up because he will go and do some more nonsense now. But the way she does it took me by surprise. I think it’s a lovely moment,” Shefali told Hindustan Times.

The sequence required several takes because it was spontaneous, and Shefali remembered that at least one of them ended in comic failure. “One of the shots we did, I remember I ran to him to kiss him and the bag (which she was carrying) hit my face and we both kissed the bag,” she says, laughing. The actor adds that in the end, she is happy with how tastefully the scene has been presented in the film. “It also has to do with how Jas (director Jasmeet K Reen) has captured it and Anil sir (DOP Anil Mehta) has shot it. There is no showsha to that moment. It just flows,” said Shefali.