Debutante

director Varsha Bharath

’s

Tamil film

Bad Girl is all set for its world premiere at the 54th edition of the

International Film Festival Rotterdam

in the competition section. Speaking to us, Varsha shares, “Bad Girl is a coming-of-age story of a girl — her life, romantic experiences, and friendships. It’s a slice-of-life film and a journey of self-discovery.”
Varsha, who says that she’s both excited and happy about her film being screened at IFFR, states, “Filmmakers, especially those making their first movie, won’t easily give up on their movies. I have a copy of the film ready for IFFR, where I can see the reaction of an informed audience, and continue to work on the film before its release here.” “It’s a unique opportunity where I get to premiere my film, but still get to work on it further,” she adds.
I’ve rooted my character in a setting I know of: Varsha
Soon after the launch of the film’s trailer, director Mohan G (of Draupathi fame) accused the film of negatively portraying a particular community. However, Varsha clarifies, “I haven’t seen the tweet yet. I’m still figuring out social media, as I’ve just joined it. I’ve just tried to tell an individual’s story. We don’t live in a casteless society. I have rooted my character in a setting I know of, and there is nothing more to it than that.”

Having worked as an assistant director in Udhayam NH4 (2013), and Vetri Maaran’s Visaaranai and Vada Chennai, the filmmaker says she didn’t plan on

Bad Girl

being her first film. “When I started writing stories, I would tell them to Vetri Maaran sir. When I told him the logline of this film, he had a spark in his eyes, and so did everybody else who heard it. That’s when I decided to pursue this story.”
She says that she wanted to showcase a three-dimensional woman through the film. “There is no such thing as a woman only being a certain way. Human beings are three-dimensional, but to write an easier screenplay, we tend to present them as one-dimensional. But women are everything all at once, and that’s what I wanted to show — that a woman has a little bit of everything in her,” she explains.
Anjali Sivaraman, who has been part of the Hindi film Cobalt Blue and the web series Class, plays the protagonist in the film, while Shanthi Priya (who makes a return to Tamil cinema after three decades) portrays her mother. “Anjali’s character is chaotic while Shanthi Priya ma’am’s character balances her and grounds the film. Anjali is the face of the film and has carried it on her shoulders.”
She continues, “There’s a specific manner in which literature and popular culture have depicted women and have told us how a woman should be. Shanthi Priya ma’am’s character would be that woman. We show them as a goddess, but they do get tired after a point, but aren’t able to express it openly.”
Teejay Arunasalam and Hridhu Haroon play Anjali’s love interests! The filmmaker says, “The presence of Teejay’s character will be throughout the film. My lead character’s life revolves around this man and his memories. Hridhu Haroon’s character was very tricky to cast. He had already worked with a great filmmaker like Payal Kapadia in All We Imagine As Light and came in with a lot of depth.”
Bollywood music composer Amit Trivedi, who had earlier worked on the yet-to-be released Tamil remake of Queen, has done the music for this film, and Varsha says that he has taken the film to a different level. “He came on board after we shot the film. I started flirting with the idea of approaching him when Anurag Kashyap came on board as a presenter. Through him, I was able to show the film to Amit, and get him on board,” says the director.