Pathinaaru Vayathinile / 16 Vayathinile (1977) :
Brief Review -
The bellwether of Rural Romance in Tamil Cinema. Not tragic but a sentimental romance which grows from Adolescence to Maturity with realistic theories. Pathinaaru Vayathinile seemed quite like a mix-up of many old Hollywood and Bollywood films but it had its own original storyline while dealing the mainstream content. We have seen this formula before that a Teenage girl falls in love with a wrong man while her childhood buddy who is a true lover of her is always ignored by her. And then after getting abandoned by that wrong man she realises the true love of her childhood companion. Pathinaaru Vayathinile uses the same formula but keeps all the characters very original except for the heroin and that's fine because i don't think anybody could have done anything different with that character. It focuses on the strengths and vulnerabilities of Mayil, a 16-year-old schoolgirl, and the challenges she faces and overcomes. Sridevi plays 16 years old Mayil when she was actually 14 herself. But i didn't really see her that young, i mean the maturity when she speaks and the way she looks seemed like above 20 sometimes. I don't know why that happened to me but sorry i couldn't help saying this. Kamal Haasan as Chappanni is terrific. He is the best performer in this film, and very much credit of that goes to writing too as he was the only character in the film who had the highest scope. Rajinikanth plays an evil guy and he definitely looks one. 'How's this?', he asks. 'Very Good', i say. Bharathiraaja made an impressive debut, no doubts about that. 16 Vayathinile was the first Tamil film to be shot predominantly outdoors and yes that helped it very much because without that Real Village Layout, it might have lost that humour and realistic touch. Overall, a Classic Romance and you can call it tragic if you wish but i would rather call it a senti one.
RATING - 8/10*
By - #samthebestest.
