‘The flutters of excitement of a high-school romance, and then how life changes.’
IMAGE: Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal. Photograph: Panna Bandekar
After making the rounds of international film festival circuits, Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls is all set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video.
Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal, who are backing the film under their banner Pushing Buttons Studios, announced that the film will be released on December 18.
The film won two awards at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, including the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award in Acting for lead performer Preeti Panigrahi and the Audience Award in the same section.
Girls Will Be Girls also received the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles, the Best Film at the Jakarta International Film Festival and the Transilvania Trophy at the Transilvania International Film Festival.
The film was also showcased at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival.
The India premiere took place at the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival in October, where it received a special mention from the jury.
“This is an Indian film for the Indian audience, so we are very happy that our people will finally be able to watch this film,” says Richa at the special showcase of the film’s trailer.
When a curious reporter asked if this is a “message-heavy” film, Richa quickly replied that there is no message in the film.
“People often think festival films mean message-oriented films. But that’s not the case here,” she said.
“It is a sweet mother-daughter story. It is about your first crush. The flutters of excitement of a high-school romance, and then how life changes. When you take a leap into the real world as an adult, these experiences eventually shape you.”
IMAGE: Preeti Panigrahi and Kani Kusruti in Girls Will Be Girls.
Set in the late 1990s, the story revolves around a girl named Mira (played by Preeti Panigrahi) who studies at a boarding school in Dehradun. She is guarded by her strict mother played by actor extraordinaire Kani Kusruti.
The story takes the turn when Mira develops a spark of romance with a new student (Kesav Binoy Kiron), which then sets the course for these three characters.
Speaking about how the film shaped up over the years, Ali shares that they got the script from Shuchi in 2018 but COVID delayed the process and many people who were associated with the film had to leave the project.
“It is hard to raise finances for an independent film like this,” says Ali.
“It is indeed very hard,” adds Richa, “but in my career, I have done mostly independent films, so we had to produce it.”
IMAGE: Ali and Richa with Kesav Binoy Kiron and Preeti Panigrahi. Photograph: Panna Bandekar
Speaking about their creative partnership as producers, Richa says both Ali and her are creative and business-minded.
“It’s fun discussing work with her. There are creative conflicts between us all the time but that’s when the conversations happen,” Ali remarks.
Ali shares he was monitoring audition clips while he was shooting for Mirzapur. Richa was also busy with Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.
They were prepping for their wedding during the same time, Richa says, which was “really crazy” for them.
Talking about the casting process, Ali says, “This is the genius of Shuchi Talati, she has written it like a thriller. It is about a mother-daughter relationship and the romance between Preeti and Kesav. These topics are delicately touched upon. The casting needed to be delicate too, and that’s how we got Dilip Shankar on board who did the casting for this film.”
Since the film is about female sexual awakening, Richa was asked if they felt the need of having an intimacy coordinator set, to which she says, “No.’
“We did not have the budget for an intimacy coordinator because they charge a lot,” Richa explains.
“What we did have was a female director, a female DoP (Director Of Photography), and female lighting assistants. After each scene, the director would ask the actors if they are doing okay. So it was a very safe environment on the sets.”
IMAGE: Preeti Panigrahi with Shuchi Talati. Photograph: Kind courtesy Preeti Panigrahi/Instagram
Talking about the challenges of being an independent producer in India, Richa cites the examples of Santosh, Shameless, All We Imagine As Light, Nocturnes and saats independent films from India are doing great this year.
“Independent cinema is still struggling but there is a lot of change. We are in the period of flux right now. I am blessed that this is direct-to-digital release, because that takes the pressure off independent producers.”
“If the cost of production is less than the marketing budget of the film, the person who suffers is the independent producer. And that’s why there are fewer and fewer,” she adds.
When asked if she would have loved playing a role in Girl Will Be Girls, Richa says, “That was never the question because for my first film, I didn’t want to wear two hats. In future, there might be a possibility. We are quite democratic like that but we have do justice to the part.”
