The maverick is back! A filmmaker who sees every film as an opportunity to give the audience an absolutely novel experience, has now come out with a film featuring teenagers. The premise is straightforward. 13 teenagers go on a trip to the house of the grandparents of one of them. En route to the place, a subset of them goes missing one by one. What happens to them afterwards is what Radhakrishnan Parthiban’s Teenz is all about. The premise is straightforward, yes. But the adventure that he takes us on is anything but. It is a fascinating cocktail of adventure, emotion and - you may not see this coming - science fiction.
The first half of the film is a deliberately paced build up to what unfurls in the second half. Parthiban does a fantastic job of establishing the kids’ characters in an economy of scenes. The first few scenes offer us a glimpse into their worlds, establishing their quirks and idiosyncrasies in a fun manner. The potential issue with having a sizeable group is to make them cohere as a group yet give them individual moments that we remember. Through little vignettes, Parthiban lays the foundation brick by brick for the second half. Note the lovely introduction scene for Ayyankali, one of the best characters in the film. The genuine care and affection that Sara has for him is beautifully carried through right till the end of the film.
The film’s missteps are mostly in the first half. There are some red herrings thrown in like a girl hanging from a tree, a police investigation, an exorcist, etc. More time could have been spent in laying the foundation for the science fiction angle. Given the motley crowd, it may have been interesting had one of the kids shown affinity towards science instead of the entire group looking clueless and scared. What I did like was the casual dismissal of superstitions by the kids, and how the actual focus of the second half is an area that is rarely explored in Tamil cinema.
The film truly kicks into top gear post intermission where the science fiction aspects come in. One of the admirable aspects of these portions is the tightrope walk performed by Parthiban, the writer. He knows that this is new territory for his audience. If he exposited excessively, he would be accused of inelegant writing, doing more tell than show. If he withheld too many details and let the audience solve the puzzle in their minds, he would be accused of being obtuse. He strikes a fine balance, leavening his dialogues with a tinge of humor. (Given how the light humor is so organic, Yogi Babu’s cameo feels like an unnecessarily forced commercial compromise.) He also foresees certain audience questions such as how an alien typically looks (thanks to our exposure to Hollywood) and why they will be seeing something different. His dialogue with the kids is almost a dialogue with the audience but the writing is so precise that none of it feels spoonfed.
The kids are, without exception, wonderful. If you notice them even in the wide shots where individually they might not have prominence, they still behave naturally in the manner of seasoned veterans. It almost feels unfair to highlight a couple of them given how each of them shines. But three actors who impressed me the most were Deepan (as Ayyankali), Kritika Iyer (as Sara) and Vishrutha Shiv (as Apoorva). Deepan’s eyes are powerful and he puts them to full use in the climactic portions. Kritika has a lovely way of expressing tenderness in a quiet, unfussy, yet completely authentic manner. And Vishrutha projects fear with the kind of control that not all adult actors are capable of. Even though I have mentioned three of them, there is not a single false note amongst any of the other performers.
Prior to Housefull (1999), Parthiban’s films hinged mostly on the merits of his writing and acting. But in the past 25 years, the craft in Parthiban’s movies has been impeccable. And Teenz has a new element too - graphics. The graphics are top notch and always in service of the script, never appearing as standalone visual gimmicks. The spaceship, the contraptions with the shrunk kids, the moments of shrinking and expansion are all marvelous. Gavemic Ary’s cinematography is brilliant. Be it the POV shots in the python sequence or the rapid shifts of focus in the shot of the rope (in the well scene) or the top angle shots of the vast open fields, Ary’s work is in perfect sync with Parthiban’s writing. D Imman’s songs are diverse, ranging from the playful “Icky Picky” (with some cute animations to boot), the soulful “Yesuve nee pesuvey” (its juxtaposition with a Muslim boy praying, is a lovely communal message in itself), the romantic “Hey Nainika” and the irresistibly catchy “Bibili”.
As I reflect on the unique experience of the film, it is clear that the film is yet another expression of faith from Parthiban. Faith in the audience’s willingness to support daring ideas. Faith in the viewer’s ability to push themselves to accept themes and grasp concepts outside of their comfort zones. Faith in the next generation’s openness to follow him as he takes on yet another untraveled path. For all the love that we claim to show towards the medium of cinema, it is high time that we repose the faith that he has placed in us.
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