Girls Will Be Girls (2024)

Brent Marchant December 31, 2024

★ 7/10

The coming of age process is different for everyone, and that’s especially true for those of different generations. Those who underwent this rite of passage years ago, however, arguably may have faced more challenges and restrictions than what’s present in these more liberated and open-minded times, and such individuals may be somewhat envious of the privileges that have been afforded their younger counterparts. That’s very much the case with Anila (Kani Kusruti) and her teenage daughter, Mira (Preeti Panigrahi), who has (or at least should have) a comparatively easier time with this than her mother did. Nevertheless, Anila still expects Mira to conform to the rigid standards of her own youth, enrolling her in a strict Himalayan boarding school and hovering around her like an overprotective helicopter parent, particularly when she befriends a young man, Sri (Kesav Binoy Kiron), who…

CinemaSerf November 8, 2025

★ 7/10

Set amidst the beautiful scenery of the Himalayan mountains, the teenage “Mira” (Preeti Panigrahi) is having to reconcile her quite traditional relationship with her mum (Kani Kasruti) with her own desires as a soon-to-be independent woman who is also the apple of the eye of the young “Sri” (Kesav Binoy Kiron). He spends quite a lot of time at their home and although her mother is friendly and civil, you get the distinct feeling that she has reservations borne out of her own experience of youth where she was never really given the opportunities that now await her daughter. That’s really the gist of a simple coming-of-age plot that quite delicately interweaves the cultural with the hormonal without veering off into sentimentality or stereotyping. Panigrahi is very natural with her performance, and the dynamic between Kasruti and Kiron is, in itself, quite a curious one that does…