‘Bad Girl would work commercially too in every aspect’

CHENNAI: The girls of Bad Girl made it to our office on time for the interview. Dressed in a leather jacket, Anjali Sivaraman was the first to enter the office, followed by Varsha Bharath in her signature blue shirt. Then came veteran actor Shanthi Priya, clad in a saree, still looking fresh out of her 90s movies. Bad Girl, presented by Vetrimaaran and Anurag Kashyap, hit the screens on September 5. It has garnered attention from all quarters for both good and bad reasons. But Varsha is not the one to mince words. “So will be the film. We haven’t minced words in what we set out for. Even the audience who hadn’t watched the trailer still went on to post negative comments about the film. The film hasn't been released yet. I suggest that they watch the movie before they jump to conclusions and then post comments about it,” says Varsha.

The filmmaker is clear about what she wants to convey to the audience and says that the idea started with telling viewers a coming-of-age story of a girl. “Though I had written other scripts, this project fell into place in an organic manner. This is about the story of a girl, who is in her teens, then her 20s and then in her 30s. It was challenging to cast the actors, who had to look the part, and they have also performed amazingly well. Once they came on board, they got into the skin of the characters easily, but to find them was a challenging process. Anjali had to play across three different periods of her life, and she had the ability and the maturity to do so. Even Shanthi Priya ma’am—she had to play the mother of someone who is already cast as her daughter. In a mother-daughter relationship, the power dynamic shift typically happens where the mothers become the babies and the daughter takes the upper hand. The entire process was organic,” says Varsha.

Anjali seconds Varsha’s opinion and says that the relationship with the latter was seamlessly built over a point in time. “It was more of a friendly banter we developed. We found ourselves on the same page even without trying. Also, my character of Ramya is something that I could connect to easily. There was not a single point where I doubted the character I play in Bad Girl, even till now. In the film, Ramya makes mistakes and she learns from them. There are a lot of little lessons you will learn from Bad Girl,” says the actor. Varsha immediately adds, “Despite this, we have laced the message in the film with a bit of humour. Thanks to their comic timing. Also, Bad Girl is a proper commercial film in every sense. We initially thought of it as an OTT movie, but it was Vetrimaaran sir and Anurag Kashyap sir who told us it would work well as a theatrical movie too. We had to tweak it later for theatrical sensibilities.”

Shanthi Priya is back in Tami with a strong character in Bad Girl. But for her, it means much more. “I was looking for good work in Tamil, and that is when Bad Girl came to me. Even as Varsha narrated the story, I was in tears, uncontrollably, as I could relate to it as a mother. I have two boys, and it reminded me of my responsibilities, especially towards my second son. And, when you see Bad Girl, I tell you, no mother should go through what Ramya’s mother does in the film.”

On a concluding note, Shanthi Priya says that she would be seen more often in Tamil. “I have been listening to quite a few good scripts, and if I keep getting such nice work, I would be seen here frequently,” she remarks.