''Sixteen'' is a 2013 Hindi

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Raj Purohit and starring debutants

Izabelle Leite Izabelle Leite (born 1 September 1990) is a Brazilian actress and model. She works predominantly in the Indian film industry. Career After debuting in Bollywood with an uncredited appearance in Talaash: The Answer Lies Within, she appeared in ...

Wamiqa Gabbi Wamiqa Gabbi (born 29 September 1993) is an Indian actress, who works in Punjabi, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. She made her screen debut in the Hindi film ''Jab We Met'' (2007) with a small role. But her major success came with ' ...

Mehak Manwani Mehak Manwani is an Indian television and film actress who appears in Bollywood films. She made her debut in Bollywood with the film ''Sixteen''. She has also done a cameo role in the Bollywood movie ''Fukrey'' (2013) as Lali's girl.she studie ...

and Mathew in the lead roles, while

Rohan Mehra ''Rohan Mehra'' (born 8 April 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Indian television, Bollywood films and web series. He is known for his roles in Indian TV shows like ''Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai'' as Naksh Singhania, ''Sasural Simar Ka'' as ...

Keith Sequeira Keith Sequeira (born 30 April 1980) is an Indian actor, and a former model and VJ. He modeled for Raymond's ''The Complete Man campaign'' before gaining popularity as ''VJ Keith'' on B4U. He featured in the music video "Shake It Daddy" with A ...

and

Zakir Hussain Zakir Hussain ( ur, , link=no) is the name of: * Zakir Husain (politician), an Indian politician and former president of India * Zakir Hussain (actor), Bollywood actor * Zakir Hussain (field hockey) (1934–2019), Pakistani field hockey player * ...

play supporting roles.

Plot

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 died in an accident. Ashwin belongs to a middle-class family with a strict father who wants him to be an

IAS Officer The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

. 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 learns 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 discovers 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 Miss India may refer to: * Femina Miss India, the most prestigious and oldest surviving national beauty pageant in India that started in 1964. It sends its winner to Miss World. * Miss Diva, the national beauty pageant that sends its winners to Miss ...

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 The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a Literary award, literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United King ...

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.

Cast

as Anu *

as Tanisha *

as Nidhi * Highphill Mathew as Ashwin *

as Karthik * Sumit Bharadwaj as Sameer * Varun Jhamb as Rishi * Amitabh Sanduja as Anu's father * Molika Verma as Anu's mother * Sanjeev Singh as Nidhi's father *

as Ashwin's father * Alka Chatarwal as Ashwin's mother *

as Vikram Kapoor *

Prabhleen Sandhu Prabhleen Sandhu (born 5 December 1983) is an Indian Punjabi film actress who rose to fame with the Indian soap on periodic freedom struggle on COLORS' ''Mohe Rang De'' as Kranti, dons a different look and role in Zee's new show, '' Aapki Ant ...

as Deepti, Tanisha's aunt * Ankur Anand

Critical reception

Glamsham.com rated the movie a 4/5 while Taran Adarsh of

Bollywood Hungama Bollywood Hungama (lit. "Bollywood Madness" in Hindi), previously known as IndiaFM (or IndiaFM.com), is a Bollywood entertainment website, owned by Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, which acquired the website in 2000. The website provides ...

rated the movie 3/5 and observed that, "Sixteen is well intentional and tackled relevant issues". "Simple but never simple-minded, this is a must watch. " writes Saibal Chatterjee, NDTV.

Karan Anshuman Karan Anshuman (born 1980) is an Indian film writer, director, and producer. He is the creator and director of Emmy-nominated drama film '' Inside Edge''. He is also the director and writer of ''Bangistan'' and the creator, director, and writer ...

of ''

Mumbai Mirror The ''Mumbai Mirror'' is an Indian English-language newspaper published in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Launched in 2005 as a compact daily newspaper, its coverage focuses on city specific local news and civic issues concerning education, healthcare an ...

'' rated the movie 2 out of 5. ''

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' reviewer Shubhra Gupta gave the movie 3 stars out of 5. ''Times of India'' gave the movie 2.5 stars out of 5.

References

External links

* * {{Bollywood Hungama movie, sixteen 2013 films 2013 thriller drama films 2010s Hindi-language films English-language Indian films Indian erotic drama films Indian teen drama films Teenage pregnancy in film 2010s erotic drama films Indian erotic thriller films 2010s erotic thriller films 2013 drama films 2010s English-language films