"Girls Will Be Girls" is a complicated love story between a mother and daughter, says director Shuchi Talati about her critically-acclaimed coming-of-age drama that has impressed international critics and festival audiences.
The movie, which also marks the production debut of actor-couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal, won the audience award in the world cinema dramatic category as well as special jury award for "Girls Will Be Girls" lead star Preeti Panigrahi at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year.
Set against the backdrop of the 1990s Dehradun, the film follows the journey of a 16-year-old girl, Mira, (Panagrahi) whose rebellious awakening is intertwined with her mother; Anila's (Kani Kusruti) unfulfilled coming-of-age experiences.
"For me, this film is a love story between a mother and daughter but a complicated love story. I wanted to talk about these two generations of women, who are both trying to get more freedom and break out of the boxes that society puts them in. The mother is trying to do the same thing, she doesn't have the freedom so she is challenging (her daughter),” Talati told PTI in an interview.
The director said the "constant policing" that women go through wherein they are questioned about their outfits or who they interact with were taken from her own experiences as a young girl.
“Being a teenage girl and the constant policing and surveillance about whether that skirt is too short or the top is too tight or don't bend over the desk or why are you talking to the boys', so all that stuff, I feel most women, not just my generation, experience it.
"All that felt personal to me and a lot of crew members,” Talati, who did her schooling in Vadodara and later went on to study English literature in Mumbai, said.
"Girls Will Be Girls", which also won the grand jury prize for best feature at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) as well as four awards at the recently-concluded Mumbai MAMI Film Festival, captures the emotional turbulence that comes with growing up. It also deals with a budding romance infused with personal insecurities and complex family relationships, the director said.
"I've felt all of these things," she said, adding, “Girls Will Be Girls” is “personal” in some ways.
"In the film, Mira is uncomfortable when her boyfriend and mother get close, I've felt that feeling when your boyfriend is talking to some girl who is older and you feel so insecure. I wanted to take feelings that are personal and deeply felt and then I find the story further. In some ways, it is personal because I'm showing you this is what I felt,” Talati said.
She also drew inspiration from Enid Blyton's books like “Malory Towers”, and “St. Clare's”, which she describes as "cool".
Talati said Kani Kusruti (Mira's mother, Anila) Panagrahi and Kesav Binoy Kiron (who plays Mira's boyfriend, Sri) were selected out of the auditions of hundreds of actors.
"There was a long casting process where we found Priti five months into casting, and she came through an open call. As soon as I saw her audition, she had this strength and dignity and that felt like this was Mira,” the director said, adding Kiron auditioned for the movie while he was studying engineering in Jaipur.
Talati said Kusruti, a celebrated Malayalam actor and also the star of Payal Kapadia's much-celebrated "All We Imagine As Light", was always the top choice for the role of Anila.
"I've been a fan of her work, she is amazing in everything, " the director said, adding, “Counterfeit Kunkoo”, “Biriyaani”, and “Ok Computer” are some of her favourite movies of Kusruti.
“She (Kusruti) had this live wire quality where you are like, ‘Is she going to laugh or get angry or will she storm out', which I felt was essential for this mother. When I talked to her about the film, she was like, ‘Why do you want to cast me? I don't understand this mother'. I don't understand this world?'
"I was like I don't care if you don't know this mother or world but I've seen your audition and you've got this quality that the mother needs, and that you can do it. I'm grateful that she trusted me,” Talati added.
Talati, 38, feels "surprised" that she has captivated audiences with her latest film.
"People are like, ‘I've been to this school, I've had a teacher like that, or we were monitored by our skirt length', so all that is wonderful. Sometimes people are speechless and moved in a way that they cannot express.
"They are like, ‘Watching this film evokes some sense of memories, these memories come back from the past or they're a reflection of their mom', and a reflection on their own lives that is deeply moving to me and surprising.”
Talati finds her niche in independent cinema, a medium she believes allows for authentic storytelling.
“I decided to become a filmmaker in college, and independent (cinema) allows you to be honest and truthful about human behaviour and human relationships, and not feel that these stories have to fit into some formula,” she said.
“Girls Will Be Girls” is an Indo-French co-production, a collaboration of Pushing Buttons Studios, Blink Digital, Crawling Angel Films and Dolce Vita Films. It also stars Jitin Gulati.
