New Delhi: Indian debutant director Varsha Bharath, who found herself in the middle of a controversy over her Tamil outing ‘Bad Girl’ has finally reacted to all the criticism that came her way and the appreciation which she garnered from the international audience.
Bad Girl Not A Porn Film
In an interview with Hindustan Times, filmmaker Varsha Bharath opened up about the controversy around Bad Girl. “A couple of days after my teaser came out, we premiered the film at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where Bad Girl won the NETPAC Award. While everyone back home was telling me I had made a trashy film…or a porno, I had the international audience at the festival and filmmakers appreciating it. It was a very disorienting experience for me. I wondered if I could’ve done something differently, but in hindsight, my objective was just to cut a cool teaser, so there’s no regret there,” she said.
Bad Girl For OTT?
Varsha revealed that “Bad Girl was initially written for an OTT platform, but that didn’t pan out. Vetrimaaran sir decided to come on board because he believed in this story. It was daunting, however, because he has always yelled at me whenever I’ve screwed up. But to have a producer who cares so much about craft and politics as much as numbers is a boon. As for Anurag sir…Mumbai is so different from Chennai in how it operates. They’re two different worlds, and I’ve been amazed seeing them both work creatively to promote this film.”
About Bad Girl Controversy
For the unversed, Bad Girl starred Anjali Sivaraman in the lead role and veteran actress Shanthi Priya who plays her mother in the film. It was released earlier this year. Bad Girl was bankrolled by Vetrimaaran and Anurag Kashyap, who faced accusations from director Mohan G on social media over portrayal of Brahmins in a bad light. The controversy erupted and so much so that the Bad Girl teaser was removed from YouTube at the Madras High Court’s orders.
Bad Girl is about a girl who dreams of finding a perfect boyfriend but due to societal norms, strict parents, she is unable to do so.
Varsha added, “I wanted to watch this movie, so I went ahead and made it. It’s not like, Oh! You’ve made one movie, so the problem is fixed,” she acknowledges, adding, “I think girlhood can be a lot of fun when we’re part of mainstream voices without being sob stories or imitating men. It can change a lot about how we perceive ourselves.”
Bad Girl will now be released in Hindi on September 26, 2025.