Her string of recent successes seem to suggest that Alia Bhatt has an understanding of the taste of commercial cinema watchers. Evidently then, her debut production, `Darlings`, has acquired abundant attention. Apart from the stellar cast comprising Bhatt, Shefali Shah, and Vijay Varma, `Darlings` also features South actor Roshan Mathew who was roped in to play a pivotal role.

Discussing her decision to rope in the actor, Bhatt says, “When Jasmeet [K Reen, director] was casting for the film, she had shown me his audition, and said she was choosing him. I was impressed with his audition. There was a scene in the living room involving him, and it is among my favourite scenes from the film. It was a difficult scene for an actor to execute by himself. [He auditioned for it] on a video call, and was so good. His energy matches that of the rest of the cast. Since he has spent time in Mumbai with friends, his Hindi is fluent.”