Girls Will Be Girls is a coming-of-age story shaped as much by a mother’s unfinished adolescence as by a teenager’s first romance. Writer-director Shuchi Talati follows 16-year-old Mira at a strict Himalayan boarding school, where her growing feelings for new student Sri unsettle the disciplined identity she has built—and stir complicated memories for her mother, Anila.
What is Girls Will Be Girls about?
Mira is known at school as a model student and rule-enforcer. That public role sits uneasily beside her private curiosity and her emerging romantic feelings for Sri. As Mira tests the boundaries around her, Anila’s return to the region brings the mother and daughter into closer conflict.
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The school’s rules and the scrutiny surrounding Mira’s behavior give the story its external pressure. Its deeper tension comes from the unequal freedoms Mira and Anila have experienced: a daughter beginning to explore her own desires, and a mother whose adolescence did not give her the same space to do so.
Why the mother-daughter relationship matters
Anila is not simply an obstacle in Mira’s story. Talati has described her as a young mother who missed her own adolescent awakening. That history complicates the familiar coming-of-age conflict between a teenager seeking independence and a parent trying to control her. Anila’s response to Mira can be read both as maternal authority and as a reaction to desires and possibilities she was denied.
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Talati said the story grew from thinking about women and their mothers in India whom she had not seen represented on screen. She hopes viewers will reflect on Mira and Anila, as well as on their own relationships with parents or caregivers. That framing keeps the film’s family drama connected to its specific characters rather than treating one family as a stand-in for every Indian mother and daughter.
Teenage desire, agency and trust
The film’s attention to teenage sexuality is a deliberate choice. At the premiere, Talati said teenage sexuality is not commonly depicted in Indian cinema and that women characters are often punished for exploring sexuality. Mira’s experience therefore carries more than the ordinary uncertainty of a first romance: it asks who gets to define a girl’s behavior, and what happens when curiosity conflicts with the expectations placed on her.
Sundance’s festival assessment highlighted the leads and the film’s exploration of agency and trust. Screen Daily described Talati’s debut as quietly captivating and sharply observed. Those responses point to the film’s observational approach: its drama rests not only on what Mira and Anila say, but on the space between a teenager’s efforts to claim independence and a mother’s complicated recognition of that effort.
Cast and filmmaking
Preeti Panigrahi plays Mira, Kani Kusruti plays Anila, and Kesav Binoy Kiron plays Sri. Talati wrote and directed the film. Sundance credits Jih-E Peng as cinematographer, Amrita David as editor, Pierre Oberkampf for the original score, and Sneha Khanwalkar for original songs.
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The film runs 118 minutes and is in English and Hindi, according to its 2024 Sundance listing. ARRI reports that it was shot in Uttarakhand using an ALEXA Mini and Zeiss Super Speed MKIII lenses. The company’s production interview also discusses efforts to create a safer working environment for young actors and women crew members.
Awards and release information
- 2024 Sundance Film Festival: World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award; Preeti Panigrahi received the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Acting.
- 2024 Nouvelles Vagues Biarritz: Grand Prix, according to French distributor Nour Films.
- French theatrical release: Nour Films lists August 21, 2024.
Where to watch Girls Will Be Girls
Nour Films lists DVD and VOD rental options, along with a contact for screenings. These are distributor-listed routes, not a guarantee that a particular format is in stock or available in every country; check the offer in your territory before ordering or renting. The January 2024 Sundance festival screening window has expired, and its festival player is not a current viewing option.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- Blu-ray
- Multiple Formats, Blu-ray, AC-3
- English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Dubbed)
- 2
- 103
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