Love manifests itself in many different ways: it stems from urges, lust and a desire to impart change. Ramya is determined to find her “perfect guy”, even though she adheres to the rules and wills of a strict family in Southern India. Not one to shy away from the perfect challenge, Ramya discovers the person who may fulfil the emptiness in her soul and heart. As a comedy, director Varsha Bharath focuses on colour and charm to guide the viewer through this rivetting tale.
Bad Girl is shot in a dream-like style, angles embodying the vastness of the terrain and the extraordinary use of dimension within the nation. The movie ripples with hues and energy, earmarking a younger, more infectious look at the world’s most populous country. In every corner of the world, there are adolescents bursting to move away from their less progressive parents for groovier, personal terrains.
Bharath’s choice to cast Anjali Sivaraman in the lead is a superlative one. Her smile is a combination of jollity, insecurity and general innocence: a youth looking for the beauty in the world. Unable to conceal the boredom of a first day back in school, Ramya showcases a genuine aptitude for bonhomie and adventure. Like passengers in time, the inhabitants of Tamil Nadu go about their daily business; surviving, not living. Eager to embody what little time she has on this earth, Ramya throws herself into love with a fervency that’s comparable to a hunter searching for a prize animal.
Experiencing trippy dreams, she likens one coital experience to a near life & death excursion. “Felt like you”, Ramya tells the naked man in her bed. “I was a bird or a fish of some kind, and you had cut me open, and were tattooing your way into my heart”, she concludes. The act of love is more than a physical exercise for this person, but a metamorphosis from one state of mind into another. She’s in a state of vulnerability, her breasts at hand to the man beside her. Early acts of coitus are tinged with nerves: ecstatic, energetic and insecure. It’s all there, dotted on Sivaraman’s portrayal.
There are philosophical points at play, particularly in the central character’s internal monologue. “How can I go from a life of dreaming?”, she inquires privately to herself, between a schedule of study, sincerity and sex. The movie could just as easily have been named Ramya’s Life given that everything is witnessed through her eyes. Behind her comes a soundtrack of tablas and flutes, externalising the nuanced gestures for the viewers in the theatres. When she feels ill, the camera shakes, waves shaking at the corners of the screen.
The mother isn’t keen on her child’s development. “She calls us toxic,” the parent mutters, her head flitting furiously from side to side.Ultimately, this woman just wants the best for her child, fearing the safety of the environment for such a young person. Bad Girl dwells in the terrain of existential darkness. An elderly woman chastises Ramya for a “filthy period” . Her grades are a product of a thorough mind, and a stable lifestyle; and then there are the pals who barely conceal their boredom whenever the eponymous heroine asks what it is that she lacks.
The world of Bad Girl is a complicated one, even if it superficially fits into the box of comedic adventure. Although it has its challenges, Ramya’s existence is one she pursues with aplomb.
Bad Girl shows in the 25th edition of the REC Tarragona International Film Festival.
