frame[o]ut – UNGEHORSAM
Open-air film festival

Sat 06.09., 20.30h, Courtyard 8, free entry
indoor backup venue: MQ Raum D

film: BAD GIRL
R: Varsha Bharath | IN 2025 | feature film | 115min. | original version with subtitles

Ramya, 16, wants one thing above all: to live and love - for real. But what sounds simple is actually a rather wild and uncomfortable ride through chat windows, college hallways and social expectations of women in South India. Bad Girl, the debut film by Tamil director Varsha Bharath, follows its heroine from her school days to adulthood - with a fast pace, plenty of humor and the necessary chaos in her head. The latter is also transferred to the cinematic form, which, like the protagonist, is in a constant state of flux. What begins as a lively, romantic coming-of-age film soon turns out to be an energetic, subversive comedy about rebelling against social norms and a plea for alternative lifestyles. Bad Girl celebrates the imperfect, the loud, the indecisive. A movie about growing up that never follows a straight line, and that never runs smoothly. A trip through the inner life of a young woman who no longer wants to be told what a “good” girl should be like. And who loves cats.

Varsha Bharath is a screenwriter and director and has now found her own language after years of assisting directors and producing subtitles in the Tamil film industry. It is loud and necessary and it is all the more gratifying that important names in new Indian cinema such as Vetrimaaran and Anurag Kashyap have backed the project as producers. In addition to the directorial debutant, Bad Girl is the next discovery; the name of the leading actress Anjali Sivaraman is certainly one to remember.

Film still © Varsha Bharath

In cooperation and co-production with MuseumsQuartier Wien