New Delhi: Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha’s international award-winning production debut Girls Will Be Girls has now been released on Amazon Prime Video. The film also marks the debut of director Shuchi Talati and actor Preeti Panigrahi.
Girls Will Be Girls premiered in the 2024 Sundance Film Festival and bagged two awards. It was also showcased at Cannes, Toronto and the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival among others.
The much-talked-about film is on a mother-daughter relationship. High-schooler Mira (Panigrahi) is at the centre of the plot, her romantic and sexual awakening and the way her mother impacts it.
“I was just out of graduation. Had already faced two rejections. So I didn’t expect to get a callback, let alone play the lead,” Panigrahi told ThePrint. A native of Odisha, Panigrahi has lived all her life in Delhi NCR. Acting took her to Mumbai in 2022.
Unscripted ending, growing pains
She landed the part of Mira following an open call in 2022, which asked entrants to send in a short video of “what you are or were like in high school: an A-grader or a rule breaker or perhaps a funny story.” Panigrahi said that while she is grateful for all the love that is coming her way, she is also receptive to criticism.
“I don’t think I am overwhelmed. Getting the film in itself was a victory. And, then taking it to the level of Sundance was unexpected. Even the response it has received is beyond what I had envisioned for myself at this age,” the 22-year-old said.
Panigrahi called the film a deeply emotional experience. She too broke down on the set, overwhelmed during the climax scene.
“It’s more than just a story; it’s an experience. It will change how you see your relationship with your parents. The film will encourage you to forgive the confusion and challenges of your growing years,” she said.
In the last sequence of the movie Mira (Panigrahi) is oiling her mother’s hair. Overwhelmed by emotions, Panigrahi broke down into tears. It wasn’t part of the script.
Instead of cutting the shot, cinematographer Jih-E Peng, whose camera was fixed in position, instinctively moved it to capture the raw, spontaneous moment that unfolded beyond the script.
“That moment immediately made me think of my own mother,” Panigrahi said. “We are often so hard on them—blaming them for everything, holding them responsible for so much. Meanwhile, they suppress their own feelings and emotions just to raise us.”
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The actor duo producers
All We Imagine as Light fame Kani Kusruti plays the role of Mira’s single mother. She has also worked in films and OTT shows like Maharani (2021), Biriyaani (2019) and Memories of a Machine (2016).
Recalling their first chemistry test, Panigrahi said she was “extremely starstruck.” However, she emphasised that it never felt overpowering.
“Kusruti is such a humble and grounded performer. She never creates an air of intimidation around her. And, she never carries her past accolades or experiences into the present,” Panigrahi said. “Since we were playing mother and daughter, it wouldn’t have been healthy for me to feel intimidated anyway.”
An Indo-French co-production, Girls Will Be Girls is the maiden offering of Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha’s production banner, Pushing Button Studios.
Panigrahi recalled that the initial few days of the film clashed with Fazal and Chadha’s wedding in 2022. Despite their personal commitments, they made it a point to ensure the team felt comfortable and settled into the project.
However, once the shooting began, they consciously chose not to interfere in the creative space shared by the cast and director.
“They were deeply invested in the film. Not only did they watch it from the edit table, but every day after we finished shooting, they would review the day’s work. When we watched it together at Sundance, they told me, ‘There were so many moments we saw you perform, and we would replicate that energy in our own performances’,” she said.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
Well, as far as we girls are concerned, the “climax” is always unscripted, isn’t it?
Pun apart, such movies are a refreshing break from the stupidly sleazy and perverted world of Pushpa.
Idiots create their own La La land with a bunch of idiotic artistes. Together, these idiots activate their “ecosystem” to write or rant about their idiotic production thereby creating a buzz in the market.
Having watched and endured All We Imagine As Light, I can say with conviction that this one too will be a celebration of “wokeness” and a war against “evil patriarchy”/”toxic masculinity”.
Very unfortunately, prestigious film festivals across the world, from Cannes to Sundance to Oscars, are.nowadays choc-a-bloc with such activist woke far-Left lunatics. This ensures that such idiotic productions get screentime and thereby garner public attention.