Varsha Bharath’s Bad Girl, a coming-of-age drama that created quite a buzz at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, is now available for streaming. Produced and presented by Vetrimaaran under his Grass Root Film Company banner, in collaboration with Anurag Kashyap, the film was released in theatres on September 5, 2025, with its Hindi version hitting cinemas later on September 26, 2025.
When and where to watch
JioHotstar announced the digital release with a post on X, writing, “➡️ Swipe and see how the world fell for Bad Girl 👸🏽 #BadGirl streaming from November 4 only on JioHotstar.”
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The coming-of-age drama film is now streaming on JioHotstar.
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Cast
The film features Anjali Sivaraman as Ramya (dubbed by Varsha Bharath), Shanthipriya as Sundari, Ramya’s mother (dubbed by Aarthi Vetrimaaran), Saranya Ravichandran as Selvi, Hridhu Haroon as Nalan, Teejay Arunasalam as Irfan, and Sashank Bommireddipalli as Arjun.
Plot
The film follows Ramya’s journey from her school and college years to her adult life. She dreams of finding the perfect partner, but things don’t go as planned. Her strict parents, society’s expectations, heartbreaks, and her own thoughts constantly get in the way, making her question what she truly wants and how to find happiness on her own terms.
More about Bad Girl
After the teaser was released on January 26, 2025, director Mohan G. Kshatriyan took to X (formerly Twitter) to claim that the film showed Brahmins in a negative light. His post quickly went viral, sparking criticism on social media for allegedly promoting underage drinking and misrepresenting a community.
Most of the backlash was directed at the film’s producers, Vetrimaaran and Anurag Kashyap, and soon turned into personal attacks and trolling aimed at Pa. Ranjith and the families of Vijay Sethupathi and Vetrimaaran.
Responding to the controversy, Varsha clarified that her film was not targeting any community, and that she only creates stories that feel real and personal to her.
Although the film received a ‘U/A’ certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification after muting abusive words and deleting around 20% of intimate scenes from its 112-minute runtime, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court still ordered the Central government to take down the teaser from social media, stating that it showed children in an inappropriate way.
The film received the NETPAC Award at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam. It also won the Audience Award in the Focus section at the 2025 Vancouver International Film Festival.