Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha announce their debut production, Girls Will Be Girls

Ali Fazal and Richa Chadha recently announced their own creators' lab, Pushing Buttons Studios.  The first script to be green-lit under their banner is Girls Will Be Girls. 

Written and directed by debutant Shuchi Talati, the film is set in an elite boarding school in a small Himalayan hill town. It follows the story of 16-year-old Mira, whose sexy, rebellious coming-of-age is hijacked by her mother who never got to come-of-age. Mother and daughter grow up together through the course of the script and their fraught but ultimately loving relationship is said to be the beating heart of the film. 

Girls Will Be Girls is the only Indian script invited to the Berlinale Script Station 2021. It is also the only Indian project at the Jerusalem Script Lab this year where it will be presented formally at the Jerusalem Film Festival in July. Previously, Ritesh Batra’s second film, Photograph, had participated in the programme. 

Talking about the film, Richa tells us, “The world that Shuchi has created is relatable, often cruel but never hopeless or nihilistic. Its honest awkwardness will make you chuckle, not weep. It’s full of relatable, lived-in episodes, that one finds oddly satisfying - like popping a zit."

"The mother in our story routinely dodges the self-sacrificing stereotype of the typical Indian mom - she’s complicated, grey, and not a martyr. The dynamic between mother and daughter is so under-explored in Indian and world cinema that the possibilities Girls Will Be Girls presents are very exciting," she adds

Ali says, “This is the first time that Richa and I are collaborating on a film as producers and the experience so far has been very rewarding. This film, being our first, is close to our hearts. I am also excited that our studio will enter the market with such a progressive, female-led story. We hope to be able to tell thought-provoking and universal stories with humour and love.”