A refreshing story from a girl's point of view

Initial part of the school section works, but the rest is unclear.

A sincere, relevant, and contemporary take on female relationships (with their friends, lovers, and moms). [+69%]

Jen Martin, Mugil, R Savari Muthu, Sathish Krishnan, Harish Kannan, Gopi Prasannaa, Kavin, R.C. Pranav, Raahul, and Preethi Asrani in Kiss (2025)

Deepak Segal, Kabilan, Nivas K. Prasanna, Ezhil Arasu K., Sakthi Thiru, Karnan Helmer, Pa. Ranjith, Mari Selvaraj, and Dhruv Vikram in Bison: Kaalamaadan (2025)

Pradeep Ranganathan, Keerthiswaran, Barath Vikraman, Sai Abhyankkar, Viyaki, Niketh Bommi, Naveen Yerneni, and Y. Ravi Shankar in Dude (2025)

Siddhu Kumar, Sarang Thiagu, Harshath Khan, Kishen Das, and S. Vinod Kumar in Aaromaley (2025)

Naslen, Chandu Salimkumar, Arun Kurian, and Kalyani Priyadarshan in Lokah Chapter One: Chandra (2025)

Chakravarthy Ramachandra, Pranav Mohanlal, S. Sashikanth, and Rahul Sadasivan in Dies Irae (2025)

Kabilan, Jacki, Dhanush, Kiran Koushik, G.V. Prakash Kumar, Aakash Baskaran, and Prasanna G.K in Idly Kadai (2025)

Tamizh Prabha, Bhagyashri Borse, Prashanth Potluri, Sri Harsha Rameshwaram, Rana Daggubati, Samuthirakani, Dulquer Salmaan, and Selvamani Selvaraj in Kaantha (2025)

Hridhu Haroon and Anjali Sivaraman in Bad Girl (2025)

Anjali Sivaraman

Shanti Priya

Hridhu Haroon

Varsha Bharath

From her journey through high school and college, then out into the wider world, Ramya&apos;s dream of finding the perfect guy is obstructed by societal mores, strict parents, unrequited love and the untrammelled chaos of her own mind.

Bad Girl

I really enjoyed Varsha Bharath&apos;s directorial debut for its sincerity in storytelling and the candid manner in which she has attempted to portray Ramya&apos;s (Anjali Sivaraman) coming-of-age. I hadn&apos;t seen Cobalt Blue or Class, so I wasn&apos;t really aware of Anjali Sivaraman as a performer prior to seeing this. She was really good for about 80-85% of the film, where her character had to go through varied emotions and a lot of rebellion. The remaining 15-20% somehow feels wooden, and that&apos;s also because the dubbing (by the director herself) is in a higher pitch than the emotions showcased. Maybe the decision to overpitch certain dialogues was the director&apos;s choice, so I&apos;m not exactly sure. Nonetheless, it&apos;s a solid showing for Anjali (love her glowy eyes).

I loved the softness in the framing especially in the film&apos;s first act where Ramya&apos;s a highschooler. Women written by women obviously carry a more authentic portrayal when it comes to things like a pimpled face, fascination for colourful innerwear, skin care and so on. There&apos;s also a more honest depiction of female friendships, breaking away from the common stereotype of &quot;be nice in public, but hate each other in private.&quot; I like how Selvi and a couple of others were around Ramya at her lowest and in-betweens (..there&apos;s never a high point per se), proving that friendships aren&apos;t always the superficial kind. REAL ones will always be REAL.

I was fairly sure the men (Hridhu Haroon, Teejay Arunasalam, and Sashank Bommireddipalli) wouldn&apos;t be getting as much texture as the leading lady, and that turned out to be the case. There&apos;s just about enough detailing for us to know why they didn&apos;t stay with Ramya, and for whatever reasons. That&apos;s alright, because the film wasn&apos;t about them anyway. Like Om Shanthi Oshana and June in Malayalam, Bad Girl also has a naturally quirky quality to it, courtesy its female gaze. Amit Trivedi&apos;s music beautifully punctuates Ramya&apos;s romantic escapades, carrying lust, tenderness, restlessness, and rejection.

Finally, Ramya&apos;s relationship with her mom (played by Shanthipriya) is always front and center. There&apos;s that &quot;I love you, but please keep some distance&quot; equation between them, which is quite the case with boomer parents and their millennial kids. It even gets a sweet redeeming arc towards the end, and that&apos;s very gratifying to see. The mother is held back by patriarchal shackles, but she&apos;s also the first one to tell Ramya to become financially independent and move abroad so she can live by her own choices. And like typical mothers, she&apos;s the first to cut the TV, mobile, and internet connections (back in the late 2000s, all you had to do was remove a modem wire for you to feel cut off from the world) when she discovers her daughter&apos;s high school affair. On the whole, Bad Girl is immensely watchable, and at 1h 50m, I&apos;d say it&apos;s a breeze.

Teaser [OV]

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTg5YWYyNjgtOGFiZi00MjZhLWIwZGUtMmIyNzVkYmRiZmZjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXRyYW5zY29kZS13b3JrZmxvdw@@._V1_.jpg

I really enjoyed Varsha Bharath's directorial debut for its sincerity in storytelling and the candid manner in which she has attempted to portray Ramya's (Anjali Sivaraman) coming-of-age. I hadn't seen Cobalt Blue or Class, so I wasn't really aware of Anjali Sivaraman as a performer prior to seeing this. She was really good for about 80-85% of the film, where her character had to go through varied emotions and a lot of rebellion. The remaining 15-20% somehow feels wooden, and that's also because the dubbing (by the director herself) is in a higher pitch than the emotions showcased. Maybe the decision to overpitch certain dialogues was the director's choice, so I'm not exactly sure. Nonetheless, it's a solid showing for Anjali (love her glowy eyes).

I loved the softness in the framing especially in the film's first act where Ramya's a highschooler. Women written by women obviously carry a more authentic portrayal when it comes to things like a pimpled face, fascination for colourful innerwear, skin care and so on. There's also a more honest depiction of female friendships, breaking away from the common stereotype of "be nice in public, but hate each other in private." I like how Selvi and a couple of others were around Ramya at her lowest and in-betweens (..there's never a high point per se), proving that friendships aren't always the superficial kind. REAL ones will always be REAL.

I was fairly sure the men (Hridhu Haroon, Teejay Arunasalam, and Sashank Bommireddipalli) wouldn't be getting as much texture as the leading lady, and that turned out to be the case. There's just about enough detailing for us to know why they didn't stay with Ramya, and for whatever reasons. That's alright, because the film wasn't about them anyway. Like Om Shanthi Oshana and June in Malayalam, Bad Girl also has a naturally quirky quality to it, courtesy its female gaze. Amit Trivedi's music beautifully punctuates Ramya's romantic escapades, carrying lust, tenderness, restlessness, and rejection.

Finally, Ramya's relationship with her mom (played by Shanthipriya) is always front and center. There's that "I love you, but please keep some distance" equation between them, which is quite the case with boomer parents and their millennial kids. It even gets a sweet redeeming arc towards the end, and that's very gratifying to see. The mother is held back by patriarchal shackles, but she's also the first one to tell Ramya to become financially independent and move abroad so she can live by her own choices. And like typical mothers, she's the first to cut the TV, mobile, and internet connections (back in the late 2000s, all you had to do was remove a modem wire for you to feel cut off from the world) when she discovers her daughter's high school affair. On the whole, Bad Girl is immensely watchable, and at 1h 50m, I'd say it's a breeze.

From her journey through high school and college, then out into the wider world, Ramya's dream of finding the perfect guy is obstructed by societal mores, strict parents, unrequited love and the untrammelled chaos of her own mind.

bappamtv

Bad Girl

🎭 Top Cast

💰 Box Office

🎬 Technical Specs

🎯 Categories

⭐ Featured Review

💡 Did You Know?

🎬 More Like This

📖 Synopsis