Growing Up :
Shuchi Talati’s debut feature captures all the angst of growing up, the ache of desire, heartbreak and the inevitable coming of age amidst bitter drama.
In Girls Will Be Girls, Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) is a model student at a hill station boarding school. She has been appointed the first Head Girl of the school, because she excels in her studies and follows the rules– her skirt is the correct length, her socks never roll down to her ankles.
She is obedient but her over-attentive mother, Anila (Kani Kusruti) annoys her. Her father is not around much. The chink in Mira’s perfection caused by new student, Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron).
To staid Mira, Sri brings a whiff of possibility– as the son of a diplomat, he has travelled the world, seems to have no parental control, and is sexually more experienced than ignorant but curious Mira.
His Astronomy Club baits the brainy Mira, but he is reeled in by Anila, with home cooking and motherly affection with just a hint of flirty. She warns Mira to keep her focus on studies, but otherwise makes no objections to the friendship.
Despite her mother’s “don’t break my trust” plea, Mira comes up all kinds of teenage subterfuge to get intimate with Sri.
There is not much attention on the other students, but Mira, who has to report others’ indiscipline, loses her moral high ground with her association with Sri.
Talati takes the audience through the many highs and lows of Mira’s romance, the practical nitty-gritties of which she researches more than school projects, and a taste of disappointment, because life does not follow a fairytale template. Sri seems too good to be true, which Mira has to figure out in her first lesson in navigating the sexual minefield.
It is rare to see in an Indian film, a teenager who is not a wall flower, or pretending to be one, because that how ‘good girls’ are supposed to be. She is not supergirl either, when crisis strikes, she does run to her mother.
Girls Will Be Girls is a well-acted bittersweet slice of life, with a more accurate portrayal of Indian teens than most other films have managed to achieve.
(This piece first appeared in seniorstoday.in)