Overnight dormitories, uniforms, and clubs… Boarding school has a distinct subculture that few get to experience, oftentimes limited to the privileged and academically gifted. While the United Kingdom is best known for this style of education, plenty of its former colonies, such as India, also adopted the practice, and part of this experience is shown in Big Girls Don't Cry (BGDC). It’s a familiar story, with new girl Kavya befriending the titular friend group, but BGDC is a bit scattered with its approach. Instead of establishing a strong protagonist in Kavya, or creating a dynamic somewhat like Mean Girls’ Cady and Regina, each of the seven girls in BGDC has their own plotline, has their own dilemma and conflict to deal with. It’s great to see how varied and interesting these teen concerns can be, but we wish BGDC allowed us to get to know each of them in a more natural pace, the same way Kavya would have gotten to know them.

While the plotlines don’t feel cohesive, BGDC is still fun to watch because of the acting of its ensemble cast– Western viewers might already be familiar with Avantika, who was in Mean Girls earlier this year, but even newcomers like Lhakyila, Vidushi, Aneet Padda, and Akshita Sood, match up to the performances of their more experienced fellow cast members like Dalai and Afrah Sayed.