Sure, it "borrows" ideas from Psycho fairly liberally, and by now it's effects are fairly cheesy, but still, Darr is a great film to watch by any standard.
Darr is one of those rare Yash Chopra films (and the beginning of the great association of Shahrukh Khan with Yash Raj films) that brings violence and the more obsessive type of love into the picture of your typical Bollywood romance. The action scenes are few and far between, and yet this is one of the darkest and bloodiest Hindi films of the early 90's.
Shahrukh Khan assays the role of stuttering stalker Rahul Mehra pursuing the lovely Kiran (Juhi Chawla), who is already engaged to the dull as dishwater, but very sane and predictable Sunil Malhotra (Sunny Deol). All of this feels very basic on paper, but on reality the combination of these three characters is dynamite on screen.
Unintentionally I am sure (no one would intentionally portray themselves as a bore when they are supposed to be the hero of the film), Sunny Deol is in great part to thank for the magic that is Darr. While Shahrukh takes to the obsessive and yet very sympathetic victim with aplomb, Deol's performance as the tired and somewhat old (even back then) Sunil is one that really drives you into Shahrukh's arms right from the first frame.
In an odd twist of logic the character played by Sunny (Deol has been a fine actor in other films so this is not an attack on his character) almost forces the viewer to take Shahrukh Khan's point of view when it comes to Kiran. What exactly does she see in her husband-to-be? Other than fiscal stability, it does not seem that Sunil brings much to the table. In consequence, despite the admittedly awful things that Rahul does throughout the film, in a very eerie and disconcerting way, one begins to cheer for Shahrukh's character to not only win the girl, but also to triumph over Sunil in every way possible.
Such a powerful emotional impulse is bound to be given credit, and I have to give it where it is due. Just to make sure that Juhi Chawla is not left out, I do have to mention that, as in her previous work such as Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Juhi gives a star performance as the cute if somewhat vapid college student and object of Rahul's desire.
I strongly recommend anyone to watch this film, even if they are not entirely familiar with Bollywood. It is definitely worth a viewing if only to test and see if you can manage to completely hate the villain in this piece. It is a challenge I admittedly failed at miserably.
