My favourite scene in Shuchi Talati’s, feature debut “Girls Will Be Girls” happens in the first twenty minutes. Our protagonist, Mira (Preeti Panigrahi), is standing in front of her bedroom mirror, applying lotion when a soft, sultry pop song starts playing on the radio. She begins to dance, getting lost in the routine as her mother, Anila (Kani Kusruti), enters the room. Mira stops, pretending she hadn’t been dancing- one of those moments we can all relate to. However, Anila turns up the volume and begins dancing herself, gesturing for Mira to join her. Mira makes a lousy attempt to join in on the routine- which doesn’t last for long before she steps away. After all, what could be more embarrassing at 16 years old than dancing with your mum? The moment is shattered and Anila’s face turns cloudy from rejection, setting the tone for the rest of the film.
Preeti’s award-winning performance is one of the most authentic depictions of girlhood I have seen in cinema.
The film begins with a celebration, Mira is awarded the role of Head Prefect, a sign of progress for her traditional boarding school in the Himalayas. She wears her prefect badge with honour, enforcing the school rules, and with perfect grades, she is the image of academic excellence. But, everything changes when she meets Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron), a new transfer student from an international school in Hong Kong. Suddenly, her attention shifts from her studies to this boy with lots more life experience than her. Her school forbids any romance, teachers warn the students to “be careful with boys, don’t talk to them more than necessary”. There is a constant affirmation of this “boys will be boys” attitude.
So, under the guise of “just friends” they begin to meet up at Mira’s home with the help of Anlia- who gleefully invites Sri into their life. This activates the heart of the film- an emotional rivalry between mother and daughter. At first, Anila sees this as an opportunity to bond with her, with Sri around the pair even finally dance together. However, Anila’s affection for Sri begins to develop into something more concercing for Mira. Her coming of age is disrupted by her strict environment, especially her by mother who never got to experience this for herself.
After watching the film, I had the chance to interview the wonderful rising star, Preeti Panigrahi, about her experience filming “Girls Will Be Girls”. Preeti’s award-winning performance (World Cinema Dramatic Special Award for acting!) is one of the most authentic depictions of girlhood I have seen in cinema.
She praises her casting director and Talati’s writing for the subtly of her character but Preeti brought an undeniable “realness” to Mira, she is the driving force behind the film's authenticity. When I asked what she would like viewers to take away from Mira, she encouraged her audience to embrace their teenage awkwardness by wearing it “like a crown on your head”. The film’s portrayal of Mira is an important representation of sexuality that we don’t often see in South Asian women on film; Preeti insists that these explorations not be held against teenagers, but rather that they open up new conversations.
She revealed to me that much like Mira, she began to understand the “incorrigible” Anila as the film progressed. In the very last scene, the pinnacle of this mother-daughter conflict, Sri is no longer in the picture. Whether or not it was puppy love or “big dog love” (as Mira puts it), the only thing that lasts is the unconditional love between mother and daughter. When oiling Anila’s hair, Mira begins to cry- a touching moment of improvisation from Preeti (she told me she was thinking of her mother after being away filming for so long). We see Mira’s opinion of Anila change, she is finally able to recognise the unhealed wounds of girlhood that live within her mother- she recognises herself in Anila. After a lifetime of being used and overlooked, her daughter is the only one to show her pure and unconditional love.
Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls” is beautiful yet cruel and very much Anila’s film as it is Mira’s. The film does an incredible job of immersing its audience in the culture it is set in, in every unspoken word we see a lifetime of pressure and societal norms.
