Bad Girl movie review: Anjali Sivaraman, Varsha Bharath and team craft a brilliant, honest, and relatable coming-of-age that talks for women

Bad Girl review: Fresh, nostalgic coming-of-age tale where Anjali Sivaraman shines as Ramya, a flawed yet real woman. Varsha Bharath crafts an honest film on friendships, freedom, and self-acceptance

Bad Girl

Bad Girl plot:

Ramya (Anjali Sivaraman) is an outcast of sorts, thanks to her rebellious nature of being herself sans any apology. Right from having a boyfriend since school times, to being that one girl who never wants to come out of the bubble that her college boyfriend is playground of red flags, Bad Girl explores the life of Ramya from her teenage years to being an adult in early 30s.

Bad Girl review:

Bad Girl is not anything near to being unique. In fact, it never attempts to be of those sorts either. It is about your any other very much average girl you would know. Riddled with pimples on her face, and wearing heart on her sleeve, Ramya (portrayed wonderfully by Anjali Sivaraman) is that girl you once knew or were told not to be around or friends with. Because she would tarnish and contaminate you with her ideology of independence and freedom of expression. Because Ramya would just simply welcome you being you, and in fact would ask you to go one step further to help you break out of norms. Of course, sometimes, she may not be the ideal girl’s girl because she hooked up with someone’s boyfriend while being in a relationship herself. She is not the angel that Tamil cinema often wants to portray its women, and director Varsha Bharath exactly conveys that. Just like how Ramya can be flawed, Varsha Bharath makes a poignant point that women much like the others, need not carry the burden of angel wings, and are simply, merely humans with all pros and cons.

Also read: Bad Girl actor Anjali Sivaraman: Playing Ramya felt cathartic, it’s a film that will make you feel seen | EXCLUSIVE

The film traces the life of Ramya from the time she is at high school. It begins with Ramya dreaming of having a place of her own with someone to caress her by side. As simple as it sounds, she does almost end up having the same but only that she is now at a place where she enjoys all she needs by herself. An the beginning, startled by her fantasy dreams, wakes up Ramya and asks herself why she is like how she is, and that’s where Bad Girl title card gets stamped on the screen, sort of an irony?

Varsha makes the most to represent the generation of the 90s. The stretch which shows Ramya rubbing the white skirt of her friend with chalk piece, coming home to switch on SS Music channel on television as we hear the Windows software music while the computer starts. It is almost like we are taken back to our old living rooms with plaits tied by a clutch, and her grandmother asks her to open mouth wide open to feed her. But once Varsha sets up the pace for the film, Ramya takes up the centre stage, and the two girls along with their team make a crisp film that values on being relatable, real, and unapologetic.

It is at various stages of Ramya’s life we are given a peek into. Her vulnerabilities come to fore when she understands that her college boyfriend Arjun is not nice after all. There a moment when Varsha makes Selvi, Ramya’s roommate who sees through Arjun and knock some sense into her friend (which falls on deaf years), and in instances like this, the film elevates female friendships. After all, aren’t the women around the affected woman who see things clearly than she does? There are a handful of moments, one of them being when girls, now adults, do grown-up things and their gossip chatter now turn into life updates. The film beautifully brings forth such moments that are often not seen onscreen. Female friendships, if done right, are angelic and Bad Girl becomes one of those rarest films to show it. And just as it talks really deep things, it also makes a mundane activity like skincare at 30s (one of the most relatable moments from the film) with a jolt of realism and how a woman would have cried all her life, but it shows only at certain age.

Also read: Bad Girl director Varsha Bharath Interview: 'Everybody should be critical of their own surroundings at one point'

There is also a moment in Bad Girl when the next important character after Ramya, gets her due importance; her mother Sundari (Shanthi Priya). When the mother gets blamed for her daughter’s behaviour, she shatters. But that doesn’t stop her from being a woman that the society needs to a mother that her daughter wants. Again, Bad Girl never attempts to say what is right and wrong, or that Ramya is a byproduct of society’s misogyny or wrongdoings. But Bad Girl never wants to outcast Ramya for who she is. It is simply a film that establishes a perspective and is cheery in doing so. Brimming with life and fresh storytelling, Bad Girl is a film that probably even a man would relate. That when everyone around you seems to have their lives fixed and running, the little milestones in your life may not look so big. But Bad Girl, by showing Ramya’s unapologetic perspective, affirms that is it is okay and not every one is on the same race to compete. But that it is important to be steady in being oneself, more importantly unapologetic if that is right.

Bad Girl verdict:

Bad Girl is brilliant, honest, and relatable coming-of-age that brims with freshness. Wonderfully shouldered by Anjali Sivaraman as the fresh voice of Varsha Bharath drives the film, Bad Girl is a must-watch if you love a nostalgic trip that doubles up as an honest coming-of-age drama.

FAQs

Q. Did Bad Girl Tamil movie release?

A. Yes, Bad Girl released in theatres on Friday.

Q. Who is director of Bad Girl?

A. Bad Girl is directed by Varsha Bharath.

Q. Did Vetrimaaran produce Bad Girl?

A. Yes, Vetrimaaran produced Bad Girl.

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