India, Sept. 22 -- When the teaser of Varsha Bharath's debut Tamil film Bad Girl, starring Anjali Sivaraman in the lead role as Ramya, was released earlier this year, it would be an understatement to say that all hell broke loose. The film's producers, Vetrimaaran and Anurag Kashyap, were accused by director Mohan G on social media of portraying Brahmins in a bad light. The teaser was later removed from YouTube at the Madras High Court's orders. The debutant director remembers feeling 'confused' by it all.

"A couple of days after my teaser came out, we premiered the film at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where Bad Girl won the NETPAC Award," recollects Varsha in an interview with Hindustan Times. "While everyone back home was...