‘Girls Will Be Girls’ (2024) Movie Review - Shuchi Talati’s Drama Remains Incurious About Its Characters

Director Shuchi Talati is a magician who can conjure a specific mood at a specific moment. In Girls Will Be Girls, she dissolves the boundaries of the screen and takes us near to her characters. We are almost always in the same room as them. When Mira (an excellent Preeti Panigrahi) burns with jealousy in front of Anila (a terrific Kani Kusruti), her mother, her bitterness feels so strong, so sharp, so palpable that it seems as if someone has scratched your skin with a sword or a knife. The atmosphere of the boarding school where Talati takes us feels so right and accurate that it transports us back to our own school days. The casual utterance of the morning pledge, the request for a topper's answer sheet to figure out your mistakes, the strict tone of the teachers, the sneakiness with which boys peek inside a girl's skirt - it's all displayed with utmost genuineness. Even things like intimacy and sex never ring false for even a second. The scene where Mira kisses her hand emanates a sense of sexual exploration; you nod your head in recognition (some things are common to all genders). There is a quiz scene that has more sensual spark than any sex scene I have seen this year. Talati really knows how people behave under different circumstances, and the gestures performed by the characters (notice how Mira stops dancing as soon as her mother makes an appearance) become the primary source of this film's pleasure.

The drama is supplied through the presence of a boy named Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron; very good), who puts more strain on the mother-daughter bond. "I cannot stand her," says Mira about Anila. Well, the situation only becomes worse. When Sri enters Mira's life and then her home, he also becomes acquainted with her mother, which means he starts spending time with both characters. Since Mira doesn't like Anila, she hates it when Sri talks to her. Ask her, and she will probably say that Anila is trying to steal her boyfriend. There is a dance scene that soon turns into a competition for Sri's attention. But does Anila have any romantic or sexual feelings for Mira's boyfriend, or is she only interested in him like a mother? When Anila gently strokes Sri's hair, does it suggest fornication or motherly concern? Girls Will Be Girls leaves everything deliberately fuzzy and "open" to reveal Mira's narrow outlook, but to what end? Anila reads a trashy, erotic novel while lying beside Sri and, in one scene, tells him to close his eyes while she fetches her clothes in a towel. There are filmmakers who can render moments like these credible. Talati, unfortunately, isn't one of them. Everything she does feels less organic and more calculated. There is a female teacher - the principal - who suspends boys for taking inappropriate pictures of girls and expels girls for romancing boys on the campus. This almost caricature-like character is used to just dispense that message about women being the promoters of the patriarchal system. During the school pledge, the children say that they will follow the age-old values and traditions, and the principal grooms Mira like a conservative mother, preparing her daughter to be an obedient wife to her husband.

The intentions are spelled out in big, bold letters. There are Message Movies where characters loudly deliver sermons. In Girls Will Be Girls, the images do the job of giving speeches. Even a "casual scene" involving a shopkeeper comes across as a lecture. Since Talati is an expert at creating a palpable atmosphere, it takes us a lot of time to understand that we never really care about the characters. Rather, we respond to the ongoing events. Mira's fate is sealed during the scene where she notices some boys taking inappropriate pictures. Yet, that climax would have had an impact on any other girl due to its content. What's worse about the film is that it leaves its characters blank, and underdeveloped - it remains incurious about them. Does Mira only like textbooks? Doesn't she have any other interests or at least a favorite subject? What about career-related ambitions? Mira has a roommate who also turns out to be her best friend. Why isn't there any other friend or rather, why doesn't Mira try making other friends? Do other students stay away from her because of her academic achievements? When Mira goes to the movies, and Anila asks who will be present, she replies, "The usual gang." Does this "gang" only include this roommate? Nothing between Mira and her friend suggests that they have a deep, intimate, convincing bond. The latter exists solely to help the film reach those final moments.

What about Anila? She reads an erotic, trashy novel, thus revealing that there is no sexual or romantic spark left in her marriage. But if that's true, how did her relationship reach this level? Talati offers a slight hint in the form of a teasing remark, which merely acts as a crumb for hungry critics desperate to use their thinking caps. Anila is unhappy with her husband because...they married young. What exactly caused a rift between them? What do they like or don't like about one another? Again, we can consider a sexist remark and come up with our own interpretations, but these clues are thin, and Talati asks us to do what she fails to do or shows no interest in doing in the film itself. Sri is also little more than a cardboard cutout. When Anila asks him questions during their first meeting, the film merely provides generic details about his life.

Talati, in the end, asserts that all men are terrible. I couldn't help but whisper, "So much 'tasteful filmmaking' for such a shallow, unremarkable message?" She further declares that even if your mother may impose strict rules, her instinct will always be to protect you from harm. Girls Will Be Girls essentially serves as the cinematic equivalent of a Mother's Day greeting card. Its pleasures are mostly surface-level: they do not linger. This is truly a Sundance Film - something that generates a lot of buzz at the festival, though after watching it, one is left with a sense of ambivalence, wondering, "Eh, it's fine - not that special."

Final Score- [5.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times