Varsha Bharath interview: On ‘Bad Girl’, teaser suggestions, being Vetri Maaran’s assistant director
Director Varsha Bharath makes two declarations as she hurriedly walks in for our interview. Pointing to her ft which are presently nestled in a pair of flimsy pink flip-flops, she says, “A friend’s dog chewed through the shoes I was meant to wear.” Afterwards, she states that she is having a bout of nerves. “It is my first interview,” she states.
Over the subsequent 45 minutes although, she settles into her chair with legs folded. Her shoulders drop and readability takes over. Varsha begins telling the story of Ramya, the protagonist of the movie; the director’s trials and tribulations with love on Yahoo messenger; working with administrators like Vetri Maaran and Anurag Kashyap; and her stellar forged and crew.
“Bad Girl is a film about a girl who is just trying to be. It is a soft movie. It would be nice if we could all chill a little, no,” she says.
Three weeks since the launch of her debut Tamil movie Bad Girl’s teaser, Varsha has been topic to a flurry of opinions. Elaborate YouTube movies have been made dissecting, and largely criticising, the two-minute lower of the protagonist Ramya’s (essayed by Anjali Sivaraman) life. Conversation on-line has stated that the movie promotes underage ingesting and bashes the Tamil Brahmin group for being an oppressive caste group.
In an interview to The Hindu, Varsha Bharath talks about working on ‘Bad Girl’, growing the characters, the talk surrounding its teaser and working with Vetri Maaran and Anurag Kashyap.
| Photo Credit:
Thamodharan B
Varsha is new to social media and has but to know the dissonance. She is generally appalled as a result of the chatter on-line misjudges what is obvious and obvious. “When the conversation happened online, I wondered if I had not cut the teaser correctly. Tell me something, can you not see that she is grown up when she drinks? Not that I am glorifying it and saying things like ‘just because a man can drink, I can drink too’. I really love chick flicks and that is what I have made too,” she says.
What is a chick flick although? Has it not been traditionally utilized in Hollywood to talk of dumb entertainers about ladies and their lives? “During the COVID-19 lockdown, I realised that the only things I wanted to watch were stories about women. This was shocking to me because I was a huge Ajith Kumar fan growing up. I was a bro. Over time though, these chick flicks posed many questions about life and had major philosophical depth. It was not just about women who ate cupcakes without gaining weight,” she says.
As we communicate, Varsha tends to meditate on her rising up in Chennai. Looking inward has been an necessary a part of her writing course of. She claims that she was a nasty pupil who disliked Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. In school, she selected to do a course in Electronic Media as she felt it will be straightforward. “I had the habit of quitting everything within a month. When I told my friend that I had joined Vetri Maaran’s set as an AD, he said ‘I give it one month’. But it was on the sets when I truly felt alive. I stuck around and didn’t quit. In a film set, I felt like I belonged,” she says. “I don’t know how he picked me to be his assistant based on a now-embarrassing short film I made in college but he claims that he saw potential,” she says, laughing. Subsequently, she went on to work on some necessary movies in Vetri Maaran’s filmography together with Visaaranai, Udhayam NH4 and Vada Chennai.
Before she arrived at Bad Girl for the title, Varsha briefly thought-about Adutha Veetu Penn for her title. She takes no pause and is certain that this story might have solely been stated by her. Other scripts have been written to completion and proven to director Vetri Maaran whom she assisted for years. But none have been as distinctive as Bad Girl. Is it autobiographical?
A nonetheless from ‘Bad Girl’
“The reason why she is called Ramya is because we know at least 20 other people with the same name. When we are growing up, we sometimes think that we are the only people with weird thoughts. I think I grew up at this odd time when boys and girls would be best friends on Yahoo Messenger but not say hello in class. I draw from these instances but it is not entirely autobiographical. I, like Ramya, wanted a boyfriend in school too but didn’t have one, unfortunately,” she says.
Varsha declares that males and ladies, together with administrators like Anurag Kashyap who’s presenting the movie, have had a number of flattering phrases to say about the movie. “Anurag sir called the film seminal. I had to google the word to understand that it meant that it could change the course of things,” she says. Men who watched the movie at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam the place the movie gained the prestigious NETPAC award, stated that they associated to Ramya.
But it’s the ladies who’ve been most excited, she declares. Several ladies have been a part of her forged and crew and a rule had been established to make sure that no assistant director can be disrespected. “All the women who worked on my film including Anjali, my editor Radha, the person who cut my teaser Madhu and my stylist Shruthi are so talented. While it was important to have as many women on set, it also became as important to acknowledge how talented they are,” she says.
In an interview to The Hindu, Varsha Bharath talks about working on ‘Bad Girl’, growing the characters, the talk surrounding its teaser and working with Vetri Maaran and Anurag Kashyap.
| Photo Credit:
Thamodharan B
The movie is now making its strategy to a number of different festivals and is seeking to be launched in the theatres quickly. While her newly inaugurated Instagram account has obtained some hate, she has additionally been overwhelmed by a number of well-wishers writing about their emotions concerning the movie. She hopes that individuals watch the movie and then touch upon the topic.
“At some point, when I stopped looking at the film with an AD’s lens, I realised that we had, in fact, made a sweet film. It is pretty chill and doesn’t take itself as seriously,” she says.
As we wrap up our dialog, I realise that Varsha’s reflections about the movie could possibly be utilized to herself too. By this time, her nervousness has dissipated as she poses for footage. The pink flip-flops don’t matter as a lot anymore.
Published – February 18, 2025 08:57 pm IST
