My closest friend, Parnika, never misses an opportunity to reminisce about her time at boarding school. And with good reason: she was merely seven years old when she was entrusted to a school in Dehradun, spending her most formative years within its confines. Whenever the trailer for Big Girls Don’t Cry drops, she's the first person I reach out to. For those of us who underwent the rigors of boarding school life in India, the show evokes a flood of memories. Parnika keenly observes how every detail, from the distinctive uniform—maroon blazers atop light blue kurtis with dupattas—to the plethora of arbitrary regulations, faithfully captures the essence of boarding school existence.
Director Nitya Mehra, herself a boarding school alumna and renowned for her work on Made in Heaven, was determined to authentically depict this unique experience. "We're accustomed to boarding school narratives from American or English literature, like Enid Blyton's Malory Towers series," she reflects. "There's a scarcity of genuine representations of Indian boarding schools in literature or cinema. So, it was imperative for me to get it right because it offers a glimpse into a world many haven't seen." Mehra vividly recalls the moment she realized she was indeed capturing the essence: "Stepping onto the set on the first day, seeing all the girls seated in the dining hall in their uniforms, and spotting the same steel plates we used to use in school on the table. I exclaimed, 'When the bell rings, let's dig in!' because hunger is a constant in boarding school life."
As Nitya Mehra aptly states, the world is divided into "those who attended boarding school and those who didn't." Actor Pooja Bhatt falls into the latter category. "I was always the one waving goodbye to my cousins as they departed for school. I was engrossed in Malory Towers and St. Clare's, often lamenting, 'Why am I not on that train?'" Perhaps to fulfill her long-standing fantasy of experiencing boarding school life—even if only as the stern principal the students fear—Bhatt eagerly signed on to Big Girls Don’t Cry. "Beyond the tough love, it's the hidden sorrow my character harbors that intrigued me," she confesses. "She's someone who conceals her pain and dutifully fulfills her responsibilities day after day—a reflection of our industry's unspoken rule: personal struggles remain behind closed doors."
Amidst this reflection on the boarding school experience, I'm reminded of Lhakyila, another friend who often shares anecdotes from her own unique schooling journey in the hills of Darjeeling. She adds a layer of diversity to our discussions, enriching our understanding of the varied experiences within the educational landscape.
