Girls Will Be Girls Review: Shuchi Talati바카라�s Tense, Razor-sharp Debut Slices Through Control And Freedom

Shuchi Talati바카라�s Girls Will Be Girls bears the imprint of a female coming-of-age tale. But this maiden feature doesn바카라�t get encumbered by an expanse of plot and overwrought trajectory that accompany such narratives. Instead the precise, minimalist drama tilts into sensations and specific emotions within the canvas of a sixteen-year-old, Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) in a Himalayan boarding school.

The onus falls on girls. 바카라�Appropriate-ness바카라�, 바카라�abiding by the rules바카라� and 바카라�upholding age-old Indian culture and customs바카라� are the watchwords, hammered through the school pledge. They are under the purview for transgression. Discipline is starkly skewed:the boys are let off the hook easily; the rules of morality don바카라�t apply to them. When Mira shares her concern with a teacher about the boys바카라� indecency, she바카라�s doled out one advice: 바카라�The best strategy is to ignore바카라�. The girls are instructed to be as unprovocative as possible. Supervision and authority tie down their movements and decisions. Mira, the head prefect, willingly imbibes the school ethos.

With the arrival of a new student, Srinivas (a magnetic Kesav Kiron), sparks fly. But of course, there are too many curtailing forces, both at school and home. She바카라�s not scared of her mother, Anila (Kani Kusruti) who바카라�s around for her board exams and lives nearby. Rather there바카라�s utter indifference. 바카라�Now I just can바카라�t stand her바카라�, she says. She바카라�s not outright hostile to her mother, though she maintains a wary distance.

Talati accentuates the scenes the three share with bristling tension. There바카라�s a thrilling edge, a nervous uncertainty to the shifting dynamics in these scenes, as Mira finds her mother pulling away Srinivas from her. It바카라�s a hijack, a whittling away of his interest that seemingly turns to Anila.

Anila doesn바카라�t see this coming either. Her first impulse is to warn the boy to keep his relationship to Mira within the bounds of friendship. She바카라�d invited him home for that. But she바카라�s taken aback, swept by his interest in her. He바카라�s keen to engage with her beyond the maternal. Her marriage, which she바카라�d stormed into, has turned cold and strained. Sri바카라�s interest gives her a lively surge. It makes her feel heard. However the screenplay also renders Anila sketchy, with a backstory that only comes through in foggy, disparate snatches. You might wonder how much the provocative ambiguity of her responses to the situation have been inserted just to bewilder. It바카라�s Kusruti who helps sharpen and ground these shaky moments.

Shot in a boxy 4:3 ratio, Girls Will Be Girls imbues every fraught exchange of glance and fleeting touch with extraordinary frisson. Be it Mira and Sri putting up a flyer together or sharing a blanket during an astronomy club session, every brushing touch fizzes with sensual discovery. Febrile undercurrents between the mother and daughter supply the film with taut pacing. There바카라�s a tinge of secret power play, a simultaneous admission of the friction as well as some degree of awkward hiding. A dance scene, which starts out with Mira and Sri before Anila takes over and shows her daughter the moves, captures all the uncomfortable mother-daughter tussle.

Talati keeps you on tenterhooks, twisting certainties of how even the most harmless exchanges might abrasively swing. Every scene among the three hangs on the cusp of a confrontation. Kusruti brings unpredictable energy to these scenes. Mira constantly scans the room, desperate to be lavished with the attention Sri had first shown towards her. She grows resentful and restless, aching to recapture him.

Talati teases perceptions of the seemingly escalating intimacy between Anila and Sri. Suddenly Mira finds herself edged out with the two carving out a snug space. The well-travelled son of a diplomat, Sri is suave and charming, planting himself in a new group and place with ease. Mira is startled to realise she doesn바카라�t just have the exclusive trust of the teachers. Sri can smooth-talk his way into those same circles as well. This shatters her sense of identity, much of which has the validation of authorities as its fulcrum. She바카라�s pitched as the model of obeisance and order. So in a demonstration about proper uniform length (바카라�uniform to your knees바카라�), it바카라�s her example that바카라�s put forth. She바카라�s also asked to rat out on her friends should they be improper.

But being an ideal student spurs its own isolation. Mira is so wrapped up in serving excellent conduct that there바카라�s dissonance between her and her schoolmates, who are more raring to break free. Talati delineates the rift between adhering to patriarchy and moving out of it. The account of Mira바카라�s cousin who eloped is, therefore, reiterated to her as a cautionary tale. Talati is more confident in the private space; the school strictures seem too imprecise and contrived. There바카라�s holistic sternness but the rules of supervision, barring the initial stretch, are largely indistinct. As a result, the movement between school and home strikes jarring notes.

Rising above this, Panigrahi바카라�s performance maps Mira바카라�s discovery of pleasure, when she allows herself to honestly express what she wants. Small, particular recognitions of her desires resonate with enormity. Moments like Mira exploring her body, the giddiness of newfound pleasure are handled with sensitivity and tenderness. Straddling curiosity, watchfulness and self-possession, Panigrahi바카라�s performance charts the route from Mira바카라�s tentativeness to irrepressible eagerness and self-assurance. Girls Will Be Girls drives with pointillistic impact into microscopic moments of reckoning and realisation. What undoes it however is a stretched, underlined and downright implausible climax where horror and heartbreak hit Mira in overblown ways that have been much alluded earlier. All the emotional buildup turns diluted.

Girls Will Be Girls had its South Asia premiere at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024.