2024 Show
Nitya Mehra · India · English, Hindi
A fun, though flimsy, depiction of life at an Indian all-girls boarding school
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.
In this coming-of-age drama series, five schoolgirls staying away from home find solace and friendship in each other. But their bonds are tested when they realize people change as they grow up. Welcome to Vandana Valley.
Being the new girl at school, Kavya Yadav hopes to fit into Vandana Valley all-girls boarding school, where she meets the popular BGDC gang.
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.
BGDC at least took the opportunity to introduce new names in more than half of its ensemble, and we’re glad to meet them.
Isabella Endrinal is a curator at A Good Movie to Watch. She's now free from the corporate night shift. Previous articles have been published in outlets such as NANG Magazine. She's currently catching up on some classic films… if she isn't coping with the fact that the Haikyu anime will end soon.
Comments