Sixteeen-year-old Mira (Preeti Panigrahi) is the brightest student in her mixed-gender boarding school, an elite institution perched on the astounding and often vertiginous Indian Himalayas. She has been elected “Head Prefect”, and it is the first time that the role has been assigned to a female. This means that she is the official class speaker, and she must read the pledge of allegiance to a vast crowd of students. Some remain attentive, while others become envious and angered as the quiet yet assertive teenager swears that they will “remain loyal to the old-fashioned traditions of India”. Presumably, this is a top-ranking and very expensive school: the students wear immaculate uniforms, their pompous body language suggesting a tacit sense of entitlement.
While classism is never a topic, there is little doubt that Mira and her family are very wealthy, and enjoy privileges that very few Indians do. Mira’s residence is a spacious, towering mansion, surrounded by lush and verdant hills. She lives with her parents, yet her father is almost entirely absent. She has a fraught relationship with her young and beautiful mother Anila (Kni Kusruti), who is tasked with protecting her daughter from all sorts of “perversions”. Having relations with a boy (the mere uttering of word “sex” is a taboo) would lead to her immediate expulsion from school. It is a woman’s role to ensure that a girl remains a girl. It is her responsibility to vouch for her family’s honour. The father doesn’t have to do much. The onus is always on the female.
When headstrong Mira meets the charming Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron), two years her senior, her priorities suddenly change. Her perfect grades drop, and she becomes interested in her latent sexuality. She investigates her vagina in front of the mirror with unforeseen candour. She reads about male and female anatomy with Sri, a moment of intimacy that she quickly learns to cherish. They kiss, and Sri has an erection, but Mira is so inexperienced she doesn’t whether “that’s a good thing” or not. They spend hours studying together in her home, until her mother begins to suspect something may be happening, and throws a spanner in the romantic works. Sri becomes resentful and jealous, particularly after Anila demands that the handsome youngster shares the bed with her. Mother and daughter become competitive, providing the film with some gentle comic relief. It is never clear whether Anila’s intentions are as “pure” as she purports.
Our protagonist keeps her head above the parapet, in a confident performance by Panigrahi. School principal Ms Bansal (Devika Shahani) suspects that Mira and Sri may be in a relationship, thus infuriating the self-determined, unyielding student. Her male colleagues also pose a threat. They become vindictive after Mira reports one of them for harassment, and are prepared to take matter into their own hands, in a country where mass rape and mob lynching are a recurring reality.
Suchi Talati’s debut feature is based on her own life experience in the Indian state of Gujarat, as well as also on a book series by English children’s writer Enid Blyton. The film crew is female almost in its entirety. This a heartfelt, gentle and at times funny coming-of-age drama, grappling with the very familiar topic of subtle female oppression. Despite the underwhelming ending and the foregone moral and ethical conclusions, Girls Will Be Girls remains a potent cinematic piece.
Girls Will Be Girls was in Competition at the 23rd edition of Tiff Romania, when this piece was originally written. Also showing in the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. In cinemas on Friday, September 20th. On all major VoD platforms on Monday, December 23rd.
