Darlings is a Hindi black dramedy that released directly on Netflix on August 5, 2022. The movie starring Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma and Malayalam actor Roshan Mathew among others opened to rave reviews and an unanimous praise for Vijay Varma's performance in the film.

Varma plays a train ticket collector named Hamza Shaikh in Darlings, who despite loving the girl he married constantly abuses her at free will. While he attributes his work frustration and drinking habits to his domestically violent nature, he later finds out that he remains psychotically harmful even after forgoing drinking and wanting to change for the better.

To the point that Hamza does not even regret killing his own unborn child in Darlings. While Vijay Varma's performance was definitely a standout, many online also expressed hate for his character Hamza, as a testament to Varma's convincing portrayal.

one thing about #DarlingsOnNetflix that hamza never tried to hit zulfi even when he was thinking zulfi and badru had an affair, his violence was only meant for women coz he’s basically a fattu who only can raise hands over someone he KNOWS is physically weaker

— gold rush ✨ (@ughmylife317) August 7, 2022

hamza when you don't give him his omelette pic.twitter.com/zYnejQZA8G

— Ashh-Loove ♡♡♡ (@AishRanliaLoove) August 9, 2022

The train killing Hamza anyway was justice to me💀.
Only Alia Bhatt could've played that role.

— Jen❥ (@jesuisjen_) August 9, 2022

The Hamza they want vs the Hamza they get.#darlings #MereHumsafar pic.twitter.com/e7zAaeI2uE

— Karan Aggarwal (@humourousVakeel) August 8, 2022

badru and hamza in the second half pic.twitter.com/yqXe5Gi1Te

— vipin (@djfrankkie) August 6, 2022

what darlings has showed violence abuse manipulation against women it's nothing compared to reality. in reality it's much worse. what badru did to hamza is less compared to what he did to her emotionally physically mentally. still people here preach she shouldn't have used

— ▫️ (@khudkidewani) August 9, 2022

well if movies like these will trigger men then it has done its job right. bcoz the problem lies in you it shows 🥰 #darlings

— ▫️ (@khudkidewani) August 9, 2022

@ Hamza: 🎶you mad you🎶
@ Vijay Varma: 🎶I loves you🎶🥺

— Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) August 8, 2022

Hamza after saying yes to builder https://t.co/VOK3KQSU5N

— Kabir (@justKabirr) August 8, 2022

Netflix India recently tweeted about this 'Hamza-hate' trend and this is how the actor reacted:

And for ruining the name Hamza. #sorryHamza https://t.co/Rh1hU2cp9M

— Vijay Varma (@MrVijayVarma) August 8, 2022

Darlings is written and directed by Jasmeet K. Reen and produced by Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment and Alia Bhatt's Eternal Sunshine Productions. The movie has background score by Prashanth Pillai, songs by Vishal Bharadwaj, Mellow D, cinematography by Anil Mehta and edits by Nitin Baid. Darlings comes with a runtime of 134 minutes.