#Rewind: 16 Vayathinile

Cast: Kamal Hassan, Sridevi, Rajinikanth, Ganthimathi, Goundamani
Music: Ilayaraaja
Direction: Bharathirajaa

16 Vayathinile (meaning ‘At the age of 16’) marked the debut of Bharathirajaa and also started a new wave in Tamil cinema. Until then the films were shot indoors, majorly in studios. In this film Bharathirajaa took the camera to outdoors, especially to rural villages. This film paved way for films telling rural stories, their lifestyle, traditions and culture.

The film is set in a village and the central character is Mayil (Sridevi). She is a 16 year old girl whose ambition is to become a school teacher. She lives with her mother, Kuruvammal (Ganthimathi) and a helper boy, Chappani (Kamal Hassan) who is in love with Mayil. There is another character that is notorious, bullying everyone. He is Parattai (Rajinikanth). These characters are so memorable that even after years people remember the character names instead of the actor’s names whenever this movie is talked about. Interestingly the title card holds only the character names and not the actors’ who played it.

Apart from the great names, the performance of the three actors is fantastic which helped people to remember the characters. Kamal Hassan’s performance as Chappani is brilliant. Every time he gets insulted by Mayil and his reaction to that breaks your heart. Once she calls his face as ‘Mango seed face’ while eating a mango. She then throws away the seed and it grows as a plant shown as a metaphor to their relationship.

In 1977, when the film got released Kamal Hassan was a star. Yet he decided to act in a semi-nude costume for a scene. His looks and the limping walk are appropriate for the character (which is ugly look for a star, yet he nails it). Rajini on the other hand is two years old in the industry and he sparks with a catchy dialogue, ‘Ithu epdi irukku’. Bharathirajaa proved his command over getting performances from an actor in his very first film.

Another interesting or amazing aspect of this film is Ilayaraaja’s songs and background score. The title card is over the song ‘Cholam vethakkaiyile’ crooned by Ilayaraaja. It is the first song sung by him in his career. After the film’s phenomenal reception Ilayaraaja singing the title song has become a sentiment and has sung numerous title songs. His background score is also amazing. I loved the score of the scene where Mayil goes to pick-up a fallen kite. When she goes the sound is romantic whereas when Chappani goes (who goes a few seconds later) the tune has a hilarious touch.

With great performances, rooted music Bharathirajaa captures the life of rural Tamil Nadu with such authenticity that set the bar high for other directors.