The Girl Who Made A Huge Splash In 2024

‘Konkona
just
walked
up,
and
both
of
us
froze.
She
was
tearing
up,
and
I
was
like
this
is
unbelievable.’
‘We
had
Tannishtha
Chatterjee,
Divya
Dutta,
Rasika
Dugal,
Dia
Mirza…
women
I’ve
idolised.’

As
someone
new
to
the
screen,
how
many
times
do
you
think

Preeti
Panigrahi
would
have
seen
her
debut
feature
film,

Girls
Will
Be
Girls?

“I
recently
watched
it
for
the
17th
time,”
the
22
year
old
says
in
a
bashful
voice.
“It’s
been
an
insane
number
of
times.”

Preeti
won
the
Special
Jury
Award
for
her
performance
at
the
Sundance
Film
Festival.
Since
then,
she
has
been
touring
festivals
and
special
screenings
to
gauge
audience’s
reaction
to
the
film.

In

Girls
Will
Be
Girls
—
backed
by
actor-couple
Richa
Chadha
and
Ali
Fazal
and
directed
by
Shuchi
Talati
—
Preeti
plays
a
high
schooler
named
Mira
in
a
tender
and
empathetic
coming-of-age
tale
of
her
romantic
and
sexual
awakening.

“My
dad
has
a
ritual
that
every
Sunday
he
will
watch
at
least
four
films.
This
Sunday,
he
watched
my
film
four
times
and
he
called
me
and
he’s
like,
‘Wow,
how
did
you
do
that?’
‘What
was
that
reaction
that
you
gave?’
‘How
are
you
so
controlled?’,”
Preeti
—
who
critics
consider
the
standout
actor
of
2024
—
tells

Mayur
Sanap/Rediff.com
in
a
two-part
interview.

Do
you
still
think
about
Mira?
Where
do
you
see
her
now?

I
think
she
is
doing
very
well.
She
is
a
confident
woman
and
always
takes
risks
but
also
very
calculated
risks.

She
will
research
before
stepping
into
anything.

By
the
end
of
the
film,
she
took
a
very
wise
decision.

I
feel
like
she
would
also
end
up
somewhere
like
me.
But
she’s
a
science
student,
I’m
a
humanities
student.
So
she
might
have
gone
into
research
somewhere.

If
she
becomes
an
engineer,
which
I
would
not
want
her
to
become,
I
think
she
would
have
this
great
life
of
traveling
on
the
side,
meeting
new
people.
Also
being
regularly
in
touch
with
her
mother,
and
probably
helping
her
mother
run
up
a
business
on
the
side.

I
do
think
of
Mira
every
time
I
watch
the
film
but
I
think
I
look
at
it
more
from
my
performance
perspective,
not
as
a
character
perspective.

But
I
also
think
of
Mira
every
time
anyone
reaches
out
and
tells
me
that
they
feel
very
seen.
So,
Mira
exists
in
all
of
these
people.

Usually,
actors
say
that
they
don’t
like
to
watch
themselves
on
screen
because
they
tend
to
get
very
critical
of
their
performance.

Yes,
the
first
time
I
watched
the
film
I
didn’t
like
it
because
I
was
very
critical
of
myself.

I
was
like,
no,
this
is
not
nice.
Why
am
I
so
bland
here?

Why
is
my
face
so
quiet
here?
I
should
be
doing
something.

Now
whenever
I
watch
it,
I
watch
it
for
the
audience.
I
feel
like
I’m
sitting
with
a
bunch
of
people
and
I
want
to
constantly
engage
with
their
reactions.

And
every
audience
is
a
new
audience.
So
every
audience
has
a
fresh
reaction.
It’s
like
watching
the
film
all
over
again.

There’s
a
video
from
the
screening
where
we
see
the
likes
of
Dia
Mirza,
Konkona
Sen
Sharma
crying
and
hugging
you
after
watching
the
film.
What
was
that
moment
like?
What
did
they
say
to
you?

It’s
so
difficult
to
put
into
words.

We
just
got
done
with
the
screening
and
I
was
just
standing
near
the
exit
and
everyone
just
stopped
everyone
and
started
clapping.

That’s
when
Konkona
just
walked
up,
and
both
of
us
froze.
She
was
tearing
up,
and
I
was
like
this
is
unbelievable.

There
we
had
Tannishtha
Chatterjee,
Divya
Dutta,
Rasika
Dugal,
Dia
Mirza…
you
know,
all
of
these
women
I’ve
idolised
and
grown
up
looking
forward
to
their
work
and
everything.

I
was
really
happy
because
it
was
just
a
bunch
of
powerhouse
women,
like
all
these
heroines
and
not
heroes.

I
mean,
of
course,
you
can
look
up
to
your
male
role
models,
but
I
think
I
was
very
happy
that
I
had
a
bunch
of
female
role
models
in
that
moment.
It
felt
like
a
very
protected
environment.

The
industry
can
become
a
competitive
space
but
I
really
look
up
to
the
people
who
make
it
not
a
competitive
but
a
collaborative
space.

They
look
like
they
were
all
kind
of
sheltering
me.
They
had
this
touch,
which
was
like,
we
will
take
care
of
you.

It’
a
very,
very,
very
beautiful
moment
in
my
life.

You
have
done
a
few
commercials
before
this.
How
did
you
get
to
know
about

Girls
Will
Be
Girls?

Because
of
the
pandemic,
we
weren’t
going
to
physical
classes
in
college.

I
was
at
home
and
that
is
when
a
lot
of
work
was
happening
in
the
industry.

Whatever
ads
or
short
films
were
coming
my
way,
I
could
do
them,
without
missing
my
classes.

Later,
I
got
to
know
about

Girls
Will
Be
Girls
right
when
my
college
had
finished.

I’d
given
my
final
exams
and
a
friend
reached
out
to
me.
She
was
interning
with
the
casting
director
and
had
seen
my
commercials.

She
said
they
are
doing
a
film
and
that,
why
don’t
you
send
your
introduction.

I
used
to
think
this
was
Dilip
Shankar’s
(the
casting
director
for
Girls
Will
Be
Girls
)
first
directorial.
I
was
very
excited
for
it
because
he’s
a
legend.

While
speaking
about
your
audition,
your
director
Shuchi
Talati
once
said
she
liked
that
you
didn’t
bat
an
eyelid
while
most
other
girls
were
coy
in
their
audition.
There
was
this
quiet
confidence
in
you
already,
as
she
said.
Did
you
ever
ask
Shuchi
or
Producer
Richa
Chadha
what
they
liked
about
you?

I
remember
the
first
time
I
met
Shuchi,
which
was
in
Bombay,
she
told
me
that
it’s
surreal
to
see
you
finally,
in
flesh
and
bones.
She
had
only
seen
my
videos
till
then.

I
was
like,
wow,
she
already
likes
me
so
much.
(Smiles)

I
got
to
know
about
the
producer’s
reaction
way
later.
That
was
in
Sundance.

But
in
between,
there
was
one
time
right
before
the
shoot
when
we
were
doing
some
look
test.
That’s
when
Richa
Chadha
and
Ali
Fazal
were
getting
married.

They
had
come
for
a
very
brief
visit
to
see
how
things
are
going
on.
That’s
when
Ali
Fazal
walked
in
and
said,
‘Hey,
how
are
you?
You’re
amazing.’

I
was
like,
wait,
this
person?
This
is
huge!
I’m
a
big
fan
of
Guddu

bhaiyya
(Ali’s
character
in
Mirzapur).

The
film
was
the
last
screening
at
Sundance
and
I
was
supposed
to
leave
in
a
couple
of
hours.
We
had
we
just
got
done
with
the
screening
and
it
was
a
very
emotional
screening.

When
we
were
walking
back
home,
Richa
said
I
just
saw
Preeti
walk
down
the
aisle
for
the
Q&A
and
the
thought
suddenly
flashed
in
my
head
when
we
were
watching
her
audition
and
just
froze
for
a
second
because
we
knew
we’d
got
her.

It
sounds
extremely
cinematic
and
dramatic
but
this
is
how
it
happened.

It’s
just
a
lot
of
things
happening
at
the
right
time.

Were
you
always
sure
of
making
a
career
in
films?

Yes.
Just
to
have
like
a
security
backup,
I
was
focusing
on
academics
too.

I
was
pursuing
history
honours
in
my
graduation.

Right
now,
I
have
also
enrolled
in
animation.
This
is
not
like
a
backup
plan.
I
always
wanted
to
learn
how
to
make
films
and
finally
I’m
getting
that
opportunity
to
do
it.