There is nothing wrong Sixteen’s trailer except that it seems to very misplaced. Travelling with its four protagonist, the film’s premise in challenging and bold. The unrealism seeps in only a few steps into the trailer. I remember being 16 and it wasn’t very long ago. That is exactly what makes the entire tapestry of the film so dubious to me. I am not raising moral qualms here. Surely changing hormones are a phase when adolescent urges are uncanny and bizarre. But the aspirations of these four, from the trailer itself look slim. Obsessing about an older man and emphasizing that sexual libido of women is just as intense as a man’s is fine and bold, but at the tender age of 16 when you are barely out watching donald ducks and mickey mouses, such statements are slightly ahead of their ‘age’.
While all their issue are extremely valid and their issues sensitive, it is raw portrayal of something that intense is what I found ridiculous. The story forgets that it is intended at Indian market and most upper middle class Indian kids at the age of 16 focus on how to crack IIT or get through DU. With the levels of competition in the field of education, teenagers emphasize more of education here! Atleast in the real world.
Sixteen New Movie Poster
Yes I don’t want to paint Indian teenagers at geeks, and hence love is crucial for them. But crush and first loves is what their issues are. Heartbreaks are juvenile and with age it becomes jokes we laugh at nostalgically. FYI Virginity has nothing to do with cool. I see this as an extremely shallow depiction of kids who lack the moral fiber to stand up for themselves and their convictions. Yes, issues are common to all especially parents forcing their dreams on kids but making such stereotypical references is what one should abstain from.
It is feeding cliches like these which breed mentalities. ‘S*x is Cool’ is an which won’t be relevant to anyone before college. There is nothing wrong with the plot, it is the age they have shown is hard to believe. Perhaps I am faulty and naive enough to assume that 16 is still the same. But of the people I know, who are 16 – their life still revolves around books, crushes, first love and delicate heartbreaks!
Having said all of this, I would want to watch the film. It is important to get an insight into the lives of teenagers today. There is a crusader tinge in me which screams that the depiction has age discrepancies. It would have been easier to believe 20 year olds saying the same! The raw and loud treatment lacks grace which might deter me, but I urge filmmakers to not make films that encourage stereotypical rashness of a generation which me actually be diametrically opposite from they have been shown as!
At 16, revel in your first love, cherish your first kiss, the satisfaction of getting your first bike, good results at Board exams, selecting your favorite college. At 16, don’t focus of s*x, sl*ts and older men. At 16, Act 16.
