Sixteen

I watched this Bollywood movie Friday last: Sixteen.

Synopsis: "Sixteen is a story about lost innocence and teenage heartache in urban India In the times of the Internet, Page-3 in newspapers and more than 300 TV channels, innocence of the youth is the first victim of overexposure. Anu is a carefree and ambitious girl who wants to be a model. Nidhi is an innocent virgin and is usually taunted by her peers for being so. Tanisha is mature for her age and likes handsome guys with a good sense of humour and intelligence. Sixteen captures the life of these teens, as they go through their loves and heartaches, dreams and destructions in their school, home and the outside world."

I quite liked it for it was a story about three teenage girls and the world around them. A pretty liberal movie for the Indian society I might add. Mostly because for the teens portrayed in the movie it appeared to be a normal affair to be losing one's virginity. It seemed normal to them to binge-drink and to go out with men twice their age. I could not relate to the film inspire of being a seventeen year old girl from the Indian diaspora.

But I would not deny that some girls from my school could relate like 100% to the situation on the movie.

And that's when I ponder, have I even been a teenager in my entire existence. If that's being teenage, thank God I have not been one.

The film also broadcast this teenage boy who is beaten up by his father at night for him to perform well at school. And I admit that got the shit out of me. Imagine if poor performance meant a blue eye and a broken nose. Well, that was what it meant for this chap.

So, I just got off the bus and my sight befell on class bunkers who are swindling their parents money to buy cigarettes and beer bottles.

If that's what being teenager means, I am not a teenager.

" The message of this film is very valuable to young people. Of course we will make mistakes. Some of us will move on from them, and some of us will take them to be the biggest mistakes we could possibly ever make. But for the few of us who are fortunate enough to grow old and move through life, we will realize that no mistake will be the end of our world (unless it's a mistake that involves poisoning ourselves such as drug abuse). We will move on, meet new people, learn from our mistakes, and encourage others not to make the same ones. Very easily, the concept is LIFE WILL GO ON. Yesterday's front page story will inevitably end up in tomorrow's trash. Hot topics don't remain hot topics forever. What matters is that we understand our errors and try our best to correct them. "

 The Movie: 

SPOILER (from Wikipedia)

Sixteen is a story about lost innocence and teenage heartache in urban India In the times of the Internet, Page 3 in newspapers and more than 300 TV channels, innocence of the youth is the first victim of overexposure.

Anu is a carefree and ambitious girl who wants to be a model. Nidhi is an innocent virgin and is usually taunted by her peers for being so. Tanisha is mature for her age and likes handsome guys with a good sense of humour and intelligence. She lives with her aunt since her parents passed away in an accident. Ashwin belongs to a middle-class family with a strict father who wants him to be an IAS Officer.

Nidhi is going out with Kartik. Kartik wants to take things further but Nidhi wants to wait for the 'right time and the right place'. Tanisha and Ashwin are best friends, but Ashwin has a crush on Tanisha, while she sees him only as a friend. Anu changes her boyfriends all the time. A handsome and intelligent writer Vikram Kapoor comes to live as a tenant at Tanisha's place, and he immediately develops feelings for her due to events in his past.

One day, Ashwin confesses his feelings to Tanisha. She politely denies him, and he is devastated, and nearly commits suicide. On the same day, Ashwin's father finds porn on his computer and beats him up. Ashwin retaliates, hits his father with one of his achievement trophies, and his father dies. His mother falsely confesses that she did it and takes the blame. Ashwin runs away from his house, and the next day, is confronted by a gang of young criminals, who induct him into their gang.

To make things more complicated, even Tanisha's aunt develops feelings for Vikram and reveals them to him, Anu comes to know that her parents are in an open marriage and is devastated, and after a few days, Nidhi suspects that she is pregnant. Anu goes to buy a pregnancy test kit for her and bumps into her ex-boyfriend, who asks her why she dumped him. Anu humiliates him badly and leaves.

Nidhi finds out that she is now pregnant with Kartik's baby. They decide on abortion, but due to some complications, Nidhi is shifted to another hospital. She has to stay there for two days. Nidhi lies to her mother about where she is.

Meanwhile, Anu comes to know that her ex-boyfriend has leaked an MMS depicting her in a compromising position. She is rusticated from her school for that. Tanisha finds out that Vikram is leaving for London soon. A female rival of Nidhi, Anu and Tanisha tells Nidhi's mother why she actually is in hospital. Her parents rush to the hospital and comfort her.

Ashwin's gang decides to rob a house whose only occupant is an old man. While executing their plan, Ashwin is confronted, and is about to kill the old man when he says that his son is an IAS Officer. Ashwin breaks down and bursts into tears. Anu is about to commit suicide when her brother calls her and tells her that he is arriving next weekend. On hearing this, she quits her suicide attempt. Tanisha, sad that Vikram is about to leave the next day, goes and sleeps in his room with him.

One year later, Nidhi is enrolled in an all-girls school. Anu has applied for the Miss India contest and her parents are supportive of her, and she loves them. Vikram has written a novel named 'Sixteen' which is nominated for the Booker Prize finals. Anu, Tanisha and Nidhi decided to go and meet Ashwin in the juvenile correction home he was kept in. Tanisha kisses Ashwin on the cheek, indicating that she has started liking him.