Long before the fabulously fertile bucolic fable Dupahiya, Sonam Nair directed this sassy feature film, Gippi, for the visionary producer Karan Johar.

Meet Gippi then. She is free-spirited, unaffected, overweight, and under-confident, though not willing to show it(her lack of confidence, that is). Gippi’s story could well have become a trite, pedestrian exercise in clichéd sequences woven around the acne-ridden years of awkwardness and self-discovery. Instead, debutant director Sonam Nair gives us vibrant vignettes from a young, defiant teenager’s life in a posh school (beautifully shot by cinematographer Anshuman Mahaley) on the hills with her single mother and her kid brother who seems to like all the girlie things more than Gippi does.

Fearless and without inhibitions, Nair’s narration takes us through Gippi’s life of unfettered self-discovery. The film is littered with reams of well–written scenes where we see Gippi going through situations that help her grow up.