Can't do everything in your first film: Richa Chadha on releasing 'Girls Will Be Girls' digitally

Mumbai: Actor-producer Richa Chadha says independent movies may often struggle to find their audiences in theatres in the presence of big-budget blockbusters supported by distribution and publicity channels but releasing her debut film production Girls Will Be Girls digitally was not a compromise.

Chadha, who has backed the acclaimed film along with actor-husband Ali Fazal via their banner Pushing Buttons Studios, said one cannot think of shaking up the entire system right in their first film.

Directed by Shuchi Talati, Girls Will Be Girls started streaming on Prime Video from December 18.

Asked if it would have been a wise decision to release the film in cinemas, the debutante producer said their primary goal with the movie was to reach as many viewers as possible.

"I want to nip this in the bud. When you tell a story, there are structures like exhibition, distribution, number of screens, publicity and advertising... How the big films work... The choice for us, as filmmakers, is whether to tell the story, make the story accessible and have more people see it, or change the structure.

"You can't do everything in your first film. You can't change the structure and tell the story. In (terms of) the big films that are hit films, none of them have changed the structure. They take the structure and they exploit the structure. We are not interested in changing the structure, we want to tell the story," Chadha told PTI in an interview here.

Girls Will Be Girls, starring Preeti Panigrahi and Kani Kusruti, has garnered acclaim at several international festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, and MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024.

At the upcoming Independent Spirit Awards, the movie has received twin nominations: John Cassavetes Award and Kusruti for best supporting actor.

Sometimes films end up changing the "structure" but it's not intentional, added Chadha.

"With this (film) being accessible to more and more people, via Amazon Prime is what we wanted, it's not in any way a compromise. This is what we wanted, and this is what we were going for...

"We are very small fry right now. This is our first film, we can make tall statements here but the reality is that this was the best move for the film, and we have to do justice to the film." Fazal said the decision to release a film in theatres or on streamers should stem after taking the interest of different stakeholders into account.

And that's why, he said, he will stick by the collective "wise decision" they made together by releasing "Girls Will Be Girls" on Prime Video.

"There's a lot of work that went into making this film. Not just from us, but from Shuchi, who is also a producer and the other co-producers. You have to start thinking about everybody else in terms of finances and everything.

"This was the best option for us to get it out to the maximum people have that conversation. We have received so much love, and continue to, with all the nominations coming in the Indie Spirit (awards)...

"We know there's an audience for it... We know that's a story that the audience is craving for right now, and not just in India, but the world over," he added.

Set against the backdrop of the 1990s Dehradun, Girls Will Be Girls follows the journey of a 16-year-old girl, Mira (Panigrahi) whose rebellious awakening is intertwined with her mother Anila's (Kusruti) unfulfilled coming-of-age experience.

But, what attracted them to Girls Will Be Girls? For Chadha, it was a "brilliant script".

"This was my first, the script made a producer out of me. Shuchi needed a producer and there was no one, so we started from there. It went to script labs before it came to us, so the proof was in the pudding. We were delighted that this is going to be our first film." Fazal was taken by Talati's attention to detail, particularly the punctuation in the script, he added.

"The way she wrote it, I thought it was amazing. That was my buy. Later, it went through endless stages. Since we are also actors that (punctuation) is such a big hint, like the comma at the right spot, full stop and colon." Up next for Fazal is a string of projects, including "Mirzapur The Film", Mani Ratnam's "Thug Life", Anurag Basu's "Metro... In Dino", and "Lahore 1947" directed by Rajkumar Santoshi.

The "Mirzapur" star quipped until a year ago a couple of producers thought he left India, owing to his growing global footprint.

"I thought let's go back to the drawing board and just (do it). I'm very excited about it ('Mirzapur The Film'). I've got a little bun and I'll have to shave off my hair for 'Mirzapur'.

"It has been amazing (working with Ratnam, Basu and Santoshi). It's like a nice check off my list. I'm happy to see how it turns out," said Fazal, known for international films such as "Victoria & Abdul", "Death on the Nile" and "Kandahar".

Chadha, who welcomed her first child with Fazal in July, said she is set to feature in a comedy film.

"I'll make an announcement pretty soon with the comedy. I love comedies, it's my favourite genre," she said.

"Girls Will Be Girls" is an Indo-French co-production, a collaboration of Pushing Buttons Studios, Blink Digital, Crawling Angel Films and Dolce Vita Films. It also stars Kesav Binoy Kiron and Jitin Gulati.