Director Varsha Bharath who is awaiting the release of Bad Girl, has opined that she doesn't think stereotyping boys as failures is harmful. "In my class, this is my experience. I have always failed in class and I have always been told I'm like a boy," she said in an interview with IANS when probed about a dialogue in the film where the lead Anjali Sivaraman is being scolded by a teacher, saying, "You walk like a boy, you talk like a boy and you fail like a boy."
Pointing out that the dialogue is stereotyping girls, she said, "Girls, out of fear, will study." Further, she listed out the stereotypes that are harmful in a patriarchal society. "There is a power dynamic in society. If you were to say women are bad drivers. That is a stereotype that is harmful. This is being spoken by the teacher. The teacher is stereotyping the student. It is very important when we are reading a film to understand who is saying it. Whether the filmmaker is saying it or a character is speaking it. A character is speaking it from her prejudice. The character is prejudiced. This teacher has her prejudice and she is stereotyping boys as failures. I am not stereotyping boys as failures," she elaborated.
Speaking from her personal experience, she narrated how she has been thrown out of school for being a bad student. "Every time when failed students were made to stand out, I would be the only girl standing with them. Even those not so smart girl students, who would study only as much as I would, will be hardworking and somehow manage to pass. They will not fail. They will have fear and devotion. That is why it was always very lonely for me to be a bad student," she said, adding, "Boys at least have company when they are failing in school."
Bad Girl is the directorial debut of Varsha Bharath and is backed by directors Vetri Maaran and Anurag Kashyap. The film won the NETPAC (Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema) Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025, where it held its world premiere, and the Young Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the 40th Cinema Jove - Valencia International Film Festival in Spain. It also won the Student Choice Award at the Indian Film Festival of Toulouse in France. The film has also been officially selected and screened at prestigious festivals including the Shanghai International Film Festival and the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
Anjali Sivaraman leads the cast of Bad Girl, which also includes Hridhu Haroon, TeeJay Arunasalam, Saranya Ravichandran, Shanthi Priya, and Sashank Bommireddipalli. It is slated for release on September 5 alongside Sivakarthikeyan Madharaasi and Bala's Gandhi Kannadi.
The film has cleared censorship formalities with a U/A certificate.
