Film: 16 DAYS
Rating: 1.25/5
Banner: Cosmos Entertainment
Cast: Charmee, Aravind, Kota, Dharmavarapu, Manorama, Jayaprakash and others
Music: Dharan
Editing: J N Harsha
Cinematography: Sukumar
Producers: D Y Choudhary, P Mahesh Babu
Story, Screenplay, Direction: Prabhu Solomon
Release date: 20th Feb 2009
It was with great hype and hoopla that the film '16 days' was making rounds given the sizzling stills of Charmee and a rather unusual title that depicted suspense, thriller elements etc. so how credible was all this let us go and see.
Story
Gurumurthy (Aravind) is a happy man since he gets his first job after years of struggling and getting a good education. He stays at his relative's place who is currently on the run since he has not paid the loan back to Yadagiri (Kota) a dreaded don. Yadagiri has a sworn enemy in the form of Rami Reddy (Jayaprakash) who is successful in killing Yadagiri's son and enraged by this, he swears that before the 12th day ceremony of his son, he would kill Reddy's son. A twist of tale happens and Guru is brought to Yadagiri and the villain assigns him the task of assassination. All this apart, there is Angel (Charmee) who has a strange thing about spending the night at strangers houses when they are not at home. She bumps into Guru's place just like this one day and in no time they get together and even start liking each other. Meanwhile, Guru has his own pressures of reporting to the job and assassinating the son of a dreaded goon. So what is the link between 16 days and the story? Is Guru successful in his mission? All this forms the rest of the story.
Performances
Aravind was bare-chested most of the movie, and he was alright. Charmee was live and bubbly throughout but then there were times when she was doing a bit of over action. Kota was his regular self and he has done this before, Dharmavarapu was barely tolerable with his comedy, Jayaprakash was barely having a presence. The others need no mention here.
Music was fine in songs but background score was annoying. Editing was not at all smooth, the pace of the movie was moderate but then the depth of the subject was missing.
The director's idea to come up with a suspense thriller can be appreciated but he should realize that to get the real tension and excitement building, the script has to be tight and the screenplay has to be executed perfectly. Both failed in this aspect. Also the frames were so abrupt and quick that it is a major strain to the eyes.
Analysis
The film suffered its major blows due to the haphazard presentation and the lack of flavor and depth in the subject and its presentation was quite obvious.
The director attempted to come up with something different with Telugu rap songs and somewhat unusual scenes to evoke comedy but then this experiment was not well polished. Even the dubbing aspect was not in sync with the film and the cracks were visible. Some of the scenes looked quite amateur and the director's immaturity was evident in few shots. Given the fact that it is a bi-lingual, a strong influence of Tamil faces and backdrop is felt.
The film does not have the kind of oomph or sizzling treat that was expected prior to its release so if you are expecting masala then this is not the one. The film will find it hard to run even for 16 days given its low content and quality of presentation.
(SiraSri can be reached at [email protected])
