Darling (2015 film)

Darling
Directed by	Sam Anton
Produced by	Allu Aravind K. E. Gnanavel Raja
Written by	Maruthi Dasari Sam Anton
Starring	G. V. Prakash Kumar Nikki Galrani Karunas Bala Saravanan
Music by	G. V. Prakash Kumar
Cinematography	Krishnan Vasant
Edited by	Ruben
Production company	Geetha Arts Studio Green
Distributed by	Dream Factory
Release dates	January 15, 2015 (2015-01-15)
Running time	126 minutes
Country	India
Language	Tamil

Darling is a 2015 Tamil horror comedy film directed by debutant Sam Anton and produced by Allu Aravind and K. E. Gnanavel Raja. The film features composer G. V. Prakash Kumar, in his acting debut, and Nikki Galrani in the lead roles, with the former also composing the film's music. A remake of the 2013 Telugu film Prema Katha Chitram, the film was released on 15 January 2015. It got positive reviews and became a blockbuster at the box office.

Plot

Kathir (G. V. Prakash Kumar), Kumaran and Nisha plan a combined and flawless suicide because of their failures in their respective lives. Firstly they try to fulfill their last wishes before leaving this world. Nisha wants to steal a new car and Kathir wants to slap the local MLA in his own house.

After stealing a new car and slapping the local MLA, the trio flee away from there to a nearby resort after escaping from the police. There Athisaya Raj, yet another suicide aspirant joins them and the four reach the farm house. There, Kumaran and Nisha, who is in love with Kathir, plan to postpone their suicide for 3 days so that they can prevent Kathir from committing suicide due to a Love Failure.

Their plan turns successful and in that interval of 3 days, all the four get close to each other. Kathir develops feelings for Nisha but hesitates to tell to her for fear of being humiliated by her. At the end of the 3rd day, Kumaran asks Nisha to kiss Kathir to divert from death, as per male psychology. He meanwhile requests Kathir to kiss Nisha as she wants to experience her first kiss before dying to which Kathir accepts with shame and shyness.

As he tries to kiss her, a ghost enters the body of Nisha, who forces Kathir out of there. A flabberghasted Kathir runs out of the room. Whenever Nisha shows her feelings to Kathir and Kathir reacts to it by hugging or touching her, the ghost enters her body and scares Kathir away. Unaware of the ghost's entry into her body, Nisha feels depressed.

When Kumaran hears Kathir describing Nisha as a ghost, he rushes to Nisha 's room to scold her and ask for an apology to Kathir, only to see the ghost enter her body and thrash him. That night, Raj too experiences the Ghost's fury at its villainous best. The trio decide to distance themselves from her and always stay together.

From the next morning, they try to get the ghost vacate Nisha body and call upon Ghost Gopal Varma an exorcist but the ghost thrashes him too.Afterwards Kathir brings up the courage and asks the ghost the reason for vengeance, and the ghost narrates her story to the trio.The ghost is Shruthi who comes with her newly wed husband, Shiva to the farmhouse.Five guys enter the farmhouse and rape the girl and kill them.

Kathir is emotionally touched and before he could help the ghost, Nisha, who seeing Kathir avoid her, slits her wrist to make Kathir get rid of the ghost. Kathir seeing this brings her out of the house to get her to the hospital, only to be confronted by 5 men who had previously raped Shruthi. Kathir puts on a fight with them, only in vain. The ghost too has lost her powers due to the slit wrist. But once the ghost in Nisha calls for her husband, we see Kathir possessed by Shiva who fights the villains.

The film ends with Kathir and Nisha hugging in front of a refrigerator. We see the refrigerator showing Shruthi and Shiva in the reflection meaning that their ghosts are still inside Kathir and Nisha.

Cast

• G. V. Prakash Kumar as Kathirvelan / Kathir
• Nikki Galrani as Nisha
• Bala Saravanan as James Kumaran
• Karunas as Athisaya Raaj / Athisayam
• Rajendran as Ghost Gopal Varma in a Special Appearance
• Kalaiyarasan as Shiva
• Srushti Dange as Swathi, Kathir's Ex-Girlfriend

Production

The film marks the return of Telugu film producer Allu Aravind to the Tamil film industry after 25 years,^[1] and he collaborates with K. E. Gnanavel Raja of Studio Green, who works outside the production house for the first time. The film was distributed by Dream Factory.^[2] The team features a predominantly new technical crew with director Sam Anton making his debut, by choosing to remake the Telugu horror film Prema Katha Chitram (2013). G. V. Prakash Kumar was signed on to play the lead role and compose the music, and the film was completed and will release earlier than his two other ongoing projects which had started earlier, Pencil and Trisha Illana Nayantara. Nikki Galrani and Srushti were also signed on to play pivotal roles, with the shoot of the film being completed in just over a month's time.^[3]

Soundtrack

Soundtrack was composed by G. V. Prakash Kumar while lyrics were written by Na. Muthukumar and Arun Kamaraj. The album was released at Suryan FM Studios on November 26, 2014.^[4] Behindwoods rated the album 2.7 out of 5 and called it "Melancholic GV".^[5] Ibtimes reviewed the album as one of the finest of his career and opined that the album consists of different genres of music sung by versatile singers.^[6] Indiaglitz rated 2.5 out of 5 and called it "middling album with two gorgeous melodies".^[7]

Release

The satellite rights of the film were sold to Sun TV. The film released on 15 January 2015 coinciding with Pongal in over 400 screens worldwide alongside S. Shankar's I' ' and Sundar C.'s Aambala.^[8]

The response from the audience made the theatre owners to increase the number of screens from amidst the heavy competition from Shankar's I and Sundar.C's Aambala.

Critical reception

The Times of India gave the film 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Darling is actually a remake of the Telugu film, Prema Katha Chitram, but debutant director Sam Anton ensures that it works very well in this setting as well".^[9] Sify called Darling "an entertaining comic-horror flick with some good writing and performances".^[10] IANS wrote, that it was "better than its original for the simple reason that it manages to entertain with a new set of actors", going on to add, "Despite its flaws, Darling turns out to be a crowd-pleasing tale of horror. While there aren't many thrills to send chills down your spine, the comedy gives you company throughout".^[11] Behindwoods gave 2.75 out of 5 and wrote, "Darling is an entertainer and can make an enjoyable Pongal outing for people who enjoy scary teasers".^[12] The Hindu wrote, "The problem with Darling is that despite the jokes coming thick and fast, the story seems tedious...while the scenes, for the major part, are admittedly funny, you can’t wait to move on. On some level, you also know that a back story of the ghost is waiting. And even as you break into occasional laughter, you are twiddling your thumbs in impatience, waiting for it".^[13] The two awesome melodies reached audista tamiltop10 from the day of release of soundtracks^[14]

Box office

The film opened to average note on its opening day because of I and Aambala release, the film collected 4.1 crore in its first day which is the biggest opening ever for debut hero.The film collected 37.81 crore (US$6.0 million) in its final worldwide collection.The film declared 'blockbuster' at the box office.^[15]

References

External links

• Darling at the Internet Movie Database