Sixteen

Sixteen is a simple story with a share of heavy-duty moments that are handed to actors who seem less capable of handling the same. The scene mentioned above isn't the only time Highphill Mathew slips, in fact in another scene coming towards the end of the film, he again isn't able to do much justice to his character. It's a scene which has the actor break down out of compunction for his past misdeeds, and all poor Highphill is able to do is whimper weakly because he's no Laurence Olivier.After hammering his boorish (although caring) dad dead with the same trophy used by his dad as a weapon to verbally denigrate him for declining results, Ashwin flees his home on foot. A few shots show him running hopelessly along the streets of Delhi, and the camera moves in and out during this scene. It's just how this scene should be shot, except that actor Highphill Mathew does not know what he should emote in this short span of seconds. All he does is run- he could be a runner for a city- based marathon, or a guy who's escaping a bunch of thugs or simply a jogger who wants to remain fit. But he's none of that, and that's where Mathew falters; he needs to convey a range of conflicting emotions while he is running, for the simple reason that he's just killed his own dad, whom he loved for his caring nature and loathed for his violent temperament. Alas, all his sweat and his father's blood go wasted.

And this is where the low production value of Sixteen acts against the film because it supplies a theatrical look to the indoor scenes. And the 'stage' needs actors who can bring the fullest of emotions to set the screen on fire, because there is no great locale or elaborate décor to draw attention away from the acting. Its sweet when things work, but when things don't, our actors look like stationery lazy stools and chairs supplied with lazier voice-over. And director Raj Purohit has his own amateur moments; note that he's responsible for most of the creative decisions, also writing, editing and penning lyrics apart from directing Sixteen.

a) Most of the film is captured in mid-shots (head to torso) of two characters occupying the screen. And mostly it's the camera cutting back and forth from one person to the other.

b) There is a soundtrack with about six-seven songs that is completely unnecessary (who is going to buy the album anyway?). Unmemorable numbers with forgettable lyrics penned by Purohit extend the film to over two hours; a taut ninety minutes would've been enough for Sixteen.

c) Characters in this film are neither entirely good nor totally evil. The shades of grey make them interesting. However, Purohit unnecessarily misleads audiences by painting a crucial character as a villain, a sexual predator, a potential pedophile in one scene by adding ominous background music for him, when the guy is just like any other human, with shades of good and stains of bad.

d) We get a cheap little editing technique in one scene. One girl is shown asking many questions to her friend, and the camera cuts repeatedly after each question. After we hear the questions, we then get to know how the other girl has answered the questions. So the camera shows her next saying 'Hmm…' a couple of times. This kind of editing suits a short film, but it looks clumsy in a feature film like this and also confuses the viewer about the tone of the movie. Is the scene funny because the girl isn't paying any attention, or should we sympathize with the girl, whose boyfriend has just dumped her? The latter requires the character to stay stationery so that we can know that she's sad and that her friend is concerned about her. Instead, this is turned into one sloppy gag.

e) Purohit wants a feel-good ending for the film. But he's the guy who wants his audience to smile so he can see their sixteen teeth on the upper jaw and sixteen on the lower. So there's a prolonged happy ending that assures, then reassures, then emphasizes, then marks with a big arrow that the ending is indeed a happy one. I would've smiled showing all my thirty-two brown teeth (thirty-one real and one fake) had the film ended with the other happy ending I saw ten minutes before.

Now that I've scolded 'Sixteen' like a fussy parent for its little mistakes, I can calm down and encourage the movie like a forgiving parent for all its goodness. The plot makes for an interesting (although not compelling) watch and I'm happy this film is uninhibited in its portrayal of young Delhi. The most memorable storyline would be the 'Lolita' inspired love triangle between 16 year old Tanisha, her aunt and a dapper 32 year old writer who lives in their house as a tenant. The story of the two other girls Anu and Mehek also have interesting turns, especially the point where the promiscuous Anu realizes that her parents live an open marriage (my cousin, who saw the film with me, cried 'What!', never having heard the term 'open marriage'). Ashwin's story starts strong but dwindles after his escape, and both I and my cousin totally forgot his character until he came back after a long absence.

I asked my cousin, a regular visitor to Delhi, what she thought about the depiction of these teenagers. And then she began with stories of how absolutely crazy, stupid, looks-and-fame obsessed Delhiites were, just like Anu, Ashwin, Tanisha and Mehek. All at the age of sixteen.

More on http://sashankkini.wordpress.com/

With advance technologies and internet awareness, teenagers of next generation have turned matured-much-before-their-age. Many movies like hilarious Rockford , solid father-son drama Udaan or the recent fun-loving Gippi focuses on the school life, friends, love , education , crushes etc. Sixteen goes one step ahead and dwells with issues teenagers are facing now days only if it could have been handled sensitively.

Sixteen tells the coming-of-age story of 4 friends - Tanisha who is love with a guy twice her age because she is unable to find right guy of her age , Anu wants to loose her virginity to her careless good-for-nothing boyfriend, Nidhi is bold and beautiful who wants to make it big to the modelling world and Ashwin who is dominated by his father to become an IAS officer.

Sixteen is a brave attempt by the first time director Raj Purohit and concept is handled with aplomb. However , it is the writing and editing that falters and at time , you will feel like being dragged along. Screenplay is loose which makes it worst. Despite these shortcomings , Sixxteen is supported by power-packed performances by all 4 leading protagonist.

Overall , Sixteen is genuine attempt which could be watched once. Better screenplay and marketing could have helped the movie. Decent 2.5/5

Just a few days back in a Gurgaon Pub (near New Delhi), there was a Police raid in which they found hundreds of School children (mostly in the age of 15-18), partying hard with loud music on, liquor bottles in hands and joints being smoked freely. The scene in the pub shocked the policemen hugely and then they decided to call all the parents of the kids at the spot to show them the result of their liberty given. The invitation of the party was reportedly passed on through FACEBOOK & WHATS Up accounts which deliberately targeted 'School Kids' in particular charging a fixed amount for the booze and eatables provided.

Now this is exactly one of the many problems of the youth depicted in this well intentioned film SIXTEEN, which tries to present it quite realistically with many shocking dialogues, never been used before in a Hindi Film Script till date. Thoughtfully directed by Raj Purohit, it can easily be called a decent attempt to showcase the sweet, energetic yet tough & indecisive years of the youth in the age group of 15-18. The age, when life and all its important emotions are being discovered for the first time like friendship, ambition, love, lust, sex and infatuation. The school days, when the young ones are willing to try anything just for experiencing it once in an adventurous mode but cannot see its drastic consequences due to their short sightedness. Those energetic years, when innocence is eager enough to give away to boldness and so called adulthood in a fast mode. And when the young ones are simply not interested to listen to any kind of advice or suggestion given by their respected grown-ups around, for any matter at all.

The film captures many tender moments of that age honestly and doesn't shy away from using the controversial phrases like "losing the virginity", "how was it for the first time" and many more. Its first half keeps progressing calmly with many occasional brilliant moments and then loses the grip post intermission due to too many sub-plots being tackled together. Plus one of its tracks around the father -son relationship goes over the top too with an unexpected tragic twist in its storyline. The not so memorable soundtrack hinders the pace regularly with few avoidable songs but the dialogues keep impressing the viewer a lot right till the end. In short, once the film is over, you just feel like having seen something good and better than many big over hyped projects but still not anything exceptionally great or path breaking.

In the performance section, SIXTEEN has many likable acts by its entire young cast including Izabelle Leite, Wamiqa Gabbi, Mehak Manwani, Rohan Mehra, Highphill Mathews and Varun Jhamb. Along with the younger brigade, Zakir Hussain is great as usual and both Prabhleen & Keith Sequeira put up a cool act together. But in order to reach its desired target audience, the film desperately needed a great energetic hit song which could bring in that young crowd in the theater on whom the film is entirely based upon.

Therefore in absence of any instantly catchy song and heavy promotional campaign, SIXTEEN will remain one of those genuine & well acted small attempts which will eventually find it hard to reach its young viewers. So in case you cannot find the spirit to watch it in the theaters then do try to catch it on DVD once it gets released in the home video market in the next few weeks.

Sixteen is a movie every teenager should watch & this is not like an advice but education. It talks everything about the age & it talks bold.

With newbies doing fantastic work with whatever was given to them, it talks about the lives of few classmates who have just entered adolescence. Their wild escapades, sensitive talks & everything related to it. The love factor, relationships, sex & the generation - Sixteen has everything in large amounts in it. The plot has lots of references of which many make sense. Some elements are hackneyed thus giving us some unanswered questions. Although, the characters are so nicely baked by the writers, they pull certain topics with finesse. All the factors introduced are handled properly giving a wonderful conclusion.

Screenplay is fine but editing & cinematography is awful. And that doesn't stop the viewer from enjoying the thrills, shakes & reality inculcated into the story. The grave reality in the second half is truly enduring. a 6.5 out of 10 for this amazing effort.

BOTTOM LINE: One of the best & meaningful films of 2013, in spite of its boldness. A must watch! Highly recommended, if you are ready to compromise with the film factors.

Can be watched with a typical Indian family? YES

Profanity: Mild; Muted | Vulgarity: Mild | Nudity: No | Foreplay/Mouth- Kiss: Mild | Sex: No; Implied | Violence: Mild | Gore: No | Smoking: Strong | Alcohol: Mediocre | Drugs: No | Porn: Very Mild

Usually I'm not interested in this type of movies so very first hour I escape most of the scenes but then I got the real fun. The story was good and quite accurate but the execution wasn't. Ending so acceptable because all we got realized our fault after our adolescence.