Girls Will Be Girls

There’s a certain gloom that underscores Girls Will Be Girls, Shuchi Talati’s debut feature-length drama. The shadows that engulf protagonist Mira (Preeti Panigrahi), a highly intelligent and precocious girl excelling at her stuffy boarding school, serve as a portent for the mystified world she’s forced to inhabit. One day, Mira catches the eye of fellow student Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron), a charming astronomy enthusiast, and thus begins her sexual awakening. Soon enough, she finds that her curiosity is being systematically thwarted by her overbearing mother (Kani Kusruti), who simultaneously competes with her daughter. 

Talati’s film is resolutely feminist and challenges misogynistic ideation head-on – both the old-fashioned phallocentric variety and the scourge of internalised misogyny. When it becomes apparent that several of her male schoolmates are responsible for upskirting, headstrong Mira takes the matter to the schoolmarm. After initially chastising the girls for their hem length, insinuating that it’s their fault if they encounter predatory boys, the schoolmarm is swayed by Mira’s protestations and she’s able to bring about real change at her school. 

Sexual exploration is also central to Mira’s rebellious identity. Together, she and Sri map out the mechanics of sex in preparation for consummating their relationship. There’s a particularly wholesome scene in which Sri researches the nerve endings of the clitoris, while Mira assigns herself with uncovering male anatomy. It’s a refreshing take on the coming-of-age drama, a subgenre that rarely tackles themes of consent or the logistics of intercourse. More often than not, Hollywood depicts an unrealistically seamless fantasy of first-time sex. Such depictions are a symptom, perhaps, of the increasing pornification of sex; Girls Will Be Girls, meanwhile, is an antidote to the harmful endurance of the male gaze in cinema. Panigrahi and Kiron, both making their acting debuts, are outstanding in their navigation of these often challenging themes.

With meditative performances and naturalistic dialogue, Talati’s debut offering is a triumph; both the director and her young leads are undoubtedly stars in the making. Much like Mira’s transition out of that aforementioned gloom, Girls Will Be Girls is a slow burn with a thought-provoking payoff that’s worth waiting for.

Antonia Georgiou

Girls Will Be Girls is released in select cinemas on 20^th September 2024.

For further information about Sundance London 2024 visit here.

Read more reviews from the festival here.

Watch the trailer for Girls Will Be Girls here: