Bad Girl Review: An upcoming age work about breaking patriarchal chain
Bad Girl Movie Review: Director Varsha India’s ‘Bad Girl’ is a brilliant upcoming film of a woman. This lovely gem of a film gives bare patriarchy and shows how women are slowly breaking with generational trauma.
For Debut director Varsha Bharath, ‘Bad Girl’ is a product of labor and passion. When the teaser was released earlier this year, it was caught in a web of controversies. So much so that the court ordered the manufacturers to remove it from YouTube on its depiction of Brahmins and young children being accustomed to cigarettes and alcohol (it was later uploaded with a slight cut). But, five minutes in ‘Bad Girl’, you forget all these controversies and are bent on the film. What does this a fresh film making voice do you!
Ramya (Anjali Shivraman) belongs to a conservative Brahmin family, where women should be primary care. If you have a period, you become untouchable. But Ramya, from his young age, defies these practices and rebels. And of course, she also earns the anger of her grandmother and mother. Irksome parents, grandparents, pimples and disciplinary rules cannot break Ramya.
It is a breakup in the school, college and its 30s that shapes it. With every breakup, Ramaya grows and learns. But his mind is always restless, constantly questions about himself and what is there in life. ‘Bad Girl’ is the upcoming story of a woman told through the lens of a female director. And it’s about it! You just have to experience the life of a girl who is bad in the eyes of the society. But, for her, she is just going about life and feeling that it comes.
Director Varsha Bharath’s ‘Bad Girl’ holds you right with the first frame. Whether it is color popping or suddenly edit patterns, filmmaking makes you as interesting as the story. When Ramya is restless about life, you are equally restless about what is next for him. From enjoying a tender to having sex, Ramya goes from one relationship to another. Should I have tried hard? Should I have captured the relationship? – These are some questions that she asks herself at the end of every breakup. The answer is with her and she learns.
It is refreshed to see a woman’s approach on a woman who wants to break down independently and learn life. And Anjali brings Shivraman Ramya to life. In fact, the film is an indifferent trip to your teenage age. Either you or your friend Ramya must have been. When Tamil cinema is full of films about aging about men, a film like ‘Bad Girl’, led by an unabashed woman, is a welcome step.
Ramya makes Ramya interesting that he is magic – no one can understand him, yet he is enough to gather your attention. Her love-lover relationship with her mother (Shantipriya) is one of the most intensive depiction in recent times. At the end of ‘Bad Girl’, you feel a generational trauma passing through generations and how, with every generation, women try to get rid of it, brick from brick.
One of the striking aspects of ‘Bad Girl’ is that it does not disturb the Brahminic family in which she is brought or the men who break with her. Instead, the film shows that women from both spectrum are present. Ramya’s mother, a woman with a well -paid job, is still a victim of patriarchal family setup, while Ramya is a free soul. There is no black or white here. These are gray and all its shades.
‘Bad Girl’ is a provocative story of a woman who has life. She learns, and we learn from it.