SRK wanted to play Vijay Varma's role in 'Darlings'!
The team of Darlings is riding high on the film's success wave and overwhelmingly positive reviews. Darlings, which premiered on Netflix on August 5, starred Alia Bhatt, Vijay Varma, Shefali Shah, and Roshan Mathew. Now, Varma has revealed that Shah Rukh Khan, Darlings' co-producer, was quite keen to play the role essayed by him, an alcoholic, abusive husband. Here's why he couldn't do it.
Why does this story matter?
Dark comedy is a relatively under-explored genre in India, and Darlings has emerged as one of the frontrunners in this domain. It also marked Bhatt's foray into production under her banner Eternal Sunshine Productions. Darlings was lauded for its hard-hitting portrayal of domestic violence in India and Varma, in particular, garnered critical acclaim for playing a character that the audience would "love to hate."
'If I were young, I would have done it': SRK
In a conversation with Film Companion, Varma spilled the beans. He said, "I remember somebody had told me that when Shah Rukh read the script, he said, 'Agar main young hota toh main hi karta (If I were young, I would have done this role).'" Varma further revealed that King Khan's gravitation toward the character inspired more confidence in his own abilities, too.
SRK's interest in the role inspired Varma monumentally
The 36-year-old actor underlined SRK's impact on him and said, "[I thought] if Shah Rukh Khan thinks that he can do this role, being an absolute lover-boy and a sweetheart [I could do this, too]." Varma also shared how he was initially scared to take up the role of an utterly sadistic, abusive man but was glad he "hit the nail on the head."
Take a look at Varma's upcoming projects
The She actor has an interesting slew of projects lined up ahead. He will be seen with Jaideep Ahlawat and Kareena Kapoor Khan in Sujoy Ghosh's yet-to-be-titled Netflix film, based on the novel The Devotion of Suspect X. He will also feature in the web series Dahaad, co-starring Sonakshi Sinha and Gulshan Devaiah. Varma has reportedly also been roped in for Lust Stories 2.
Share this timeline