PremiumDarlings vs Gangubai Kathiawadi: Alia Bhatt’s maiden production scores big on Netflix but fails to beat the Bhansali film!
Released theatrically on 25 February 2022, Gangubai Kathiawadi collected close to Rs. 210 crores at the global box office, making it Alia Bhatt's second film to earn more than Rs. 100 crores after Raazi.
Gangubai Kathiawadi proved its might also on Netflix, having scored big previously during the theatrical run
Last Updated: 06.44 PM, Aug 11, 2022
Alia Bhatt’s debut production venture Darlings has struck the right chord with the digital audience. The film premiered on August 5 on Netflix and has been reaping highly encouraging reviews since then, also gradually evolving to be a genuine digital success. Within the very first three days of its release, Darlings has become the most-watched film on the streaming giant with more than 10 million hours of streaming time to its name!
Yes, as revealed by Netflix, Darlings has been viewed for as many as 10.21 million hours between August 5 and August 7 to make it one of the most streamed films across the world. While the data for the subsequent/ongoing week of August 8-14 are yet to be made public, one can assume that the word-of-mouth publicity to do its wonders.
As of August 7, Darlings stood at #4 in the weekly Global Top 10 list of most watched films, in the non-English category. The elite list also includes titles like the South Korean film Carter, the Mexican romantic-comedy Don’t Blame Karma! And India’s own RRR: in an astonishing feat, RRR has remained on the global list for twelve weeks straight!
Darlings also stars Shefali Shah, Vijay Varma, and Roshan Mathew with Jasmeet K. Reen directing the straight-to-OTT picture. The film is a joint production of Red Chillies Entertainment and Alia Bhatt’s Eternal Sunshine Productions – Gauri Khan, Gaurav Verma, and Alia Bhatt are credited as the film’s three producers.
And yet, interestingly, Darlings has fallen short of beating the other Alia Bhatt starrer, Gangubai Kathiawadi, in terms of streamed hours on Netflix. The Sanjay Leela Bhansali directorial scored an amazing 13.8 million hours over the first three days of its digital premiere on Netflix, making it the most watched non-English film across the globe.
This comes as a special feat because Gangubai Kathiawadi, unlike Darlings, isn’t a direct Netflix release and had completed a highly successful theatrical run prior to the digital premiere.
Released theatrically on 25 February 2022, Gangubai Kathiawadi collected close to Rs. 210 crores at the global box office, making it Alia Bhatt's second film to earn more than Rs. 100 crores after Raazi.