The maturation process brings a lot of emotions and thoughts. Although we are all forced to face him at some point, he has a chance to take place in the same way everywhere. “Girls Will Be Girls” He sensitizes problems related to entering adulthood and understanding your own needs. Putting in the center of a teenage Mira (in this role debuting on the screen of Preeti Panigrahi), the director simultaneously enables the audience to deeper understanding the status of women in India and the need to cross borders.
The film takes place at the Indian boarding school. The peaceful life of Mira, an exemplary, 16-year-old student, changes forever when Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron), a new, mysterious high school student stands on her path. A gradually developing relationship with her boyfriend prompts her to think about her own body and for the first time causes the need to exceed imposed duties. In history, the mother of teenagers, Anila (Kania Kusruti), is also crucial, who affects the direction of young relations.
The opening scene clearly outlines that Mira breaks the attitude of a woman rooted in the patriarchal imagination. She is the first female representative who has received a chance to take the function of chairwoman at school. Anila immediately notices that it would be impossible during her youth. It is also the first time he explicitly expresses his unfulfilled ambitions. She is a young mother who still wants to enjoy life. However, Mira, balancing on the border of cultural principles and internal desires, is not able to understand it. For her, we have behavior beyond the adopted norms, which leads to many misunderstandings.
The Indian community has been functioning for centuries according to certain rules that affect the regulation of female behavior. This problem is complex, and its full understanding requires a deeper penetration into the local culture and beliefs. Even if you don’t have this knowledge before the screening, the plot “Girls Will Be Girls” shows the problem of disproportion in the possibilities of women and men.
Mira operates in a world where girls must watch out for clothing so as not to pay the attention of classmates. Corporeality is a taboo subject, and education in this matter ends with explaining to students how they should walk up the stairs to avoid unpleasantness. After all, they will be blamed if someone hurts.
Despite the division into male and female dormitory, teachers are not able to reprimand the natural interest in the opposite sex. And students who do not provide adequate access to knowledge are forced to seek information on their own.
Both Mira and Anila are looking for something more in life, their place in this unfair world. Although they are divided by age difference, both want independence that seems impossible. Any disobedience and going beyond specific social roles may end in exclusion for them.
The images created by Shuchi Talati correspond to the content; The moments of initiation are accompanied by wild, natural open air, and talks about the rules take place in the raw walls of the school. The director, however, does not serve easy, unambiguous answers in her history. He also does not assess anyone, but only tenderly looks at the struggles that allow you to possess life knowledge. And although Mira’s relationship with a teenager is crucial in the film, it is the tension and the gradual creation of the thread of the agreement between the teenager entering the adult world and the mother suppressed by the principles stands out in the foreground. In this story, they both face their ills; For one they are rocking, unknown desires, for the other, failure to meet and life unsatisfied.
It is worth mentioning on this occasion that there are many people like Mira or Anila in the Indian community, but their voices and performances in film stories are negligible. Of course, such productions are created, which is a great example of titles, such as “Fire” (1996), “Margarita with A Straw” (2014) or “Pink” (2016), which on many levels break the scheme of presenting the heroines. The problem, however, is that women’s cinema and women do not achieve commercial success in India and there is no chance to break through to a large group of viewers. A pity, because it is a country in which films have a huge impact on the shaping of the audience worldview for decades.
The work of Shuchi Talati has won 4 awards so far. From the Sundance festival, where his world premiere took place, it left with three statuettes: the audience award, distinction for breaking the convention and for the best acting performance in the drama (Preeti Panigrahi). In 2025, the title also received the Special Award John Cassavets during the Independent Spirit Awards. I believe that these statuettes will encourage viewers to explore a variety of Indian cinema, and local artists will make it even more frequent considerations about female freedom.
“Girls Will Be Girls” is a subtle, balanced, original and above all needed picture. Mira’s journey through a self -knowledge can become a voice that is called to overthrow the expectations built by the world. And to the courage to stay yourself at all costs.
“Girls Will Be Girls”dir. Shuchi Talati, France, India 2024, distributor: yellow scarf, cinema premiere: May 23, 2025.
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