Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal turn producers; announce their first project Girls Will Be Girls

Lovebirds Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal have turned producers and announced their first project. Their company is called Pushing Buttons Studios and aims to tell stories rooted in the Indian ethos for a global audience. The first project from the production house is titled Girls Will Be Girls. The film is written and directed by debutant Shuchi Talati. Girls Will Be Girls is the only Indian script invited to the prestigious Berlinale Script Station 2021 – a lab that selects only 10 projects from around the world each year.

Their first production is set around an elite boarding school in a small Himalayan hill town in North India. It depicts the story of sixteen-year-old Mira, whose sexy, rebellious coming-of-age is hijacked by her mother who never got to come-of-age. How the mother and daughter grow up together through the course of the script is what forms the plot.

Talking about the film, Richa Chadha said, “The world that Shuchi has created is relatable, often cruel but never hopeless or nihilistic. Its honest awkwardness will make you chuckle, not weep. It’s full of relatable, lived-in episodes, that one finds oddly satisfying – like popping a zit. The mother in our story routinely dodges the self-sacrificing stereotype of the typical Indian mom – she’s complicated, grey, and not a martyr. The dynamic between mother and daughter is so under-explored in Indian and world cinema that the possibilities of ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ presents are very exciting.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by ali fazal (@alifazal9)

Ali Fazal said that this is the first time that he and Richa are collaborating on a film as producers and the experience so far has been very rewarding. “This film being our first is close to our hearts. I am also excited that our studio will enter the market with such a progressive, female-led story. We hope to be able to tell thought-provoking and universal stories with humour and love,” said the Fukrey actor.

Also Read: Say What! Richa Chadha didn’t get her hair chopped in Madam Chief Minister owing to her wedding to Ali Fazal