Shuchi Talati’s directorial debut Girls Will Be Girls has been the talk of national and international festival circuits, receiving rave reviews and accolades. The film’s lead actress, Preeti Panigrahi, received the Special Jury Award for Acting at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival for her performance. In an exclusive conversation with us, Preeti shared her thoughts about her journey — the highs, the learnings, and what kept her grounded throughout. Backed by actors-turned-producers Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal, the coming-of-age film, set against a strict boarding school backdrop, is streaming on Prime Video.

How was your first day of shooting on Girls Will Be Girls?

Preeti Panigrahi: It was a winter morning and we had an early call time. It felt like getting ready for school — wearing my school uniform, putting on a belt, rolling up my socks, wearing school shoes, etc. I'd done some ads before, and every time they’d said ‘action’ I would get the jitters and find it difficult to perform.

But on this set, surprisingly, I was very comfortable. The first time I heard ‘action’ I was so comfortable and relaxed, that I thought to myself, “How can I be so calm when I see these big cameras? How can I be so comfortable in my own skin?” I think it's kudos to all the preparation that we did before getting on set and also how lovely and forgiving all these people were. I never felt the pressure of performance throughout the film.

The film was shot in 40 days with breaks. It also took a while for the film to be released. What did you do during this ‘waiting’ period?

Preeti Panigrahi: It was good that we had breaks in between. It was a two-year journey and there were ups and downs. I was always on a happy high when we were shooting, but sometimes I would feel that I was not getting into the character. Then, there was a one-year gap after the film was complete so I focused on other things. I pursued an animation course. The film was also when I left home and started living independently. Many changes were happening in my life. That was a very humbling and grounding experience.

When the film came out at the Sundance Film Festival 2024, we were again on a high. When we returned to India, it gave me time to contemplate and reflect, to figure out what I liked and didn't like. Overall, the learning was consistent and so were the ups and downs.

What did producers Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal say after watching your performance?

Preeti Panigrahi: They had been watching the film throughout its filming and editing. We watched it for the first time at Sundance. I remember Ali Fazal coming up to me and saying, “There were so many choices you made as an actor that I watched and learned.” It was a beautiful thing to hear from an established actor I look up to.

When Ali said this, did you reflect on what choices you made in the film?

Preeti Panigrahi: No, not really. I feel the credit for my performance goes to everyone who's made the film come true. It comes down to how director Shuchi Talati envisioned the whole thing and trusted me with this process, how cinematographer Jih-E Peng framed me, how costume designer Shaahid Amir dressed me, and how Amrita David edited the film — they all contributed to my performance.

Did you attend all the film festivals where Girls Will Be Girls was screened?

Preeti Panigrahi: I attended all the screenings at Sundance. I stayed during the initial few minutes of the film. I left the moment we got to hear the first laugh. It was like a litmus test for us. But again, I cannot judge audiences by their reactions because some people like to watch films quietly. That’s how they enjoy their experience. Others like to be very vocal about how they are feeling while watching the film. It's very difficult to judge.

What kind of reactions did you get after the screenings at Sundance?

Preeti Panigrahi: We were an Indian indie film and Sundance is a film festival in America, which some of the greatest filmmakers attend. Christopher Nolan, Kristen Stewart, and Jesse Eisenberg attended our year. We were newcomers from India and people did not know us. The first two days, we just went around attending gatherings, probably dancing in a corner and coming back.

But once we had our premiere at the festival, we started getting recognised on the streets. They would come up and tell me, “Oh, my God, you're the girl from Girls Will Be Girls. I had the craziest experience watching that film.” Slowly, I could see the film growing, the entire festival warming up to us. The attendance at our screenings began growing to packed houses. So, I enjoyed how it began blowing up.

The same thing happened here in India at the MAMI Film Festival. There were long queues, with people waiting for two hours to watch the film. This is a very touching experience for an indie film.

Girls Will Be Girls explores female desire in a nuanced manner. What are your thoughts on it?

Preeti Panigrahi: Girls Will be Girls deals with the sexuality of young adults, which might not necessarily be a perfect sexual experience. It can be a very awkward, vulnerable, and insecure sexual experience. And our director translates that on screen. None of the scenes in the film should make an audience feel titillated. Rather, they should make them feel awkward or reflect on their initial sexual experiences, which were like these. I'm very proud of being a part of such an intimate intimacy, not a glamorous one.

As for me, I don't think there's anything sensational or titillating in our film. Maybe some headlines will try to focus on that angle — “Oh, there are so many intimate scenes in the film.” But if you look beyond that, I feel like the film is a lot about empathy and forgiving humans. None of the characters in the film are black and white, and even though I played the protagonist, I feel like she wasn't the hero in the film. She wasn't the righteous one. Sometimes, I felt like, “Oh, my God, she's just so wrong right now.” So, there is everything, but at the end of the day, there's also forgiveness.

What is your take on how female desire has been explored in cinema lately?

Preeti Panigrahi: Female desire shown back home is titillating and sensationalised. I don't know why it's such a surprise to watch women on screen have sexual agency. It's such an alien topic to a lot of people in our society. Our director Shuchi Talati, because she's based in America, wants to show South Asians differently from their ‘South Asianness’. Humans are overall very sexual beings. It's a part of our life. However, characters from a certain ethnicity may not be portrayed in this light. When people from other countries watched our film, their first response was, “We've never seen something like this from India. We've never seen Indian women like this.”

You also won a Special Jury Award for Acting at the Sundance Film Festival 2024. How did you process all that?

Preeti Panigrahi: The initial few days were overwhelming, but there were grounding experiences in my life where I would just come back and attend class like a regular student, and focus on my academics and attendance. So, I was always living in these two worlds. After a point, I made peace with it. I stopped letting it get to my head.

What is your biggest takeaway from all of this?

Preeti Panigrahi: I can draw satisfaction knowing that I got to live this character and feel everything that I could possibly feel. Also, as an aspiring filmmaker, I got to interact and have conversations with a lot of role models, directors, and actors. They watched the film, so now I can approach them. I can easily talk to them. I think that those are some rewarding and substantial experiences that I will hold on to.

Going forward, what kind of cinema do you want to be a part of?

Preeti Panigrahi: I don't have a clear picture, and I'm very happy not having one. At one point, I wanted to be a part of something fantastical or magical, like the world of Harry Potter, but I feel like I'm changing a lot these days. Now, I feel the human mind itself is a fantastical place, so I keep oscillating between wanting to do something fantastical and also something that is very much situated in my world like Girls Will Be Girls.