Film: 16 Days
Cast: Charmee, Aravind, Kota Srinivas Rao and others
Dialogues: Nivas
Lyrics: Bhaskar Batla
Cinematography: Sukumar
Music: Dharan
Editing: J N Harsha
Producers: D Y Chowdhary, Mahesh Babu
Banner: Cosmos Entertainments
Directed by: Prabhu Solomon
Release date: Feb 20, 2009
CBFC Rating: U/A
What's it about!
A local don Yadagiri (Kota) loses his son to his rival Rami Reddy. Yadagiri vows to kill Rami Reddys son in 16 days on the day of his sons Karmakanda as per their familys ritual. He hires several professional killers but Rami Reddy eliminates all. On other hand, Yadagiris men bring Gutti Murthy (Aravind), a fresh graduate youngster searching for a job, mistaking him for Subramanyam who owes them money. Murthy impresses Yadagiri and gives him an idea how to kill Rami Reddys son. So Yadagiri entrusts the killing job on him. While he is heading to his home, Rami Reddys men kidnap him and bury him in an isolated place. But he luckily escapes from it and lands in his apartment where he meets Angel (Charmee), a loner who lives in empty flats while the owners are away. They bond well and eventually marry each other. The rest of the movie is how Murthy escapes from the dons after 16 days.
Analysis
Basic concept of 16 Days is taken from Hollywood thriller - Lucky Number Slevin. The original Hollywood thriller is a revenge drama but the debutant director Prabhu Solomon has removed the revenge aspect and weaved his own story which is nothing but hotchpotch. While the chacterisation of heroine Charmees is copied from Korean movie - 3 Iron. The film is engaging in bits and spurts. But after a few scenes it tends to get monotonous and drags on and on. Although it starts off well, the director loses focus in the mid-way by concentrating on silly aspects of bonding between hero Aravind and heroine Charmee and also the unnecessary sub story of Ramireddys son indulging silly games. Such sub plots have distracted the core story. On the whole the movie seems okay in some scenes but it gets boring towards the climax.
Script is filled with lot of loopholes and logic less scenes. It could have been better if the director focused on main plot line - an innocent guy caught in two mafia dons and come out as winner.
Those who expect the film would be another good thriller or some steamy scenes from Charmee would be in major disappointment. 16 Days is more focused on the films hero Aravind than the Charmee. In fact she doesnt have much role in it.
Performances
Charmee plays the role of a loner who imitates all the heroes in Telugu. Her act of imitating is irritating at most times. Her glam act in two songs is not that sizzling, as it is nothing compared to what she had done in earlier movies. Newcomer
Aravind is perfect to the role of an innocent guy. His dialogue delivery (dubbed voice?) is similar to A.M.Ravi Krishna. The film revolves around him and he carries it off well. Senior actor Kota as local mafia leader does his best. Other cast is mostly newcomers or Tamil actors.
Cinematography is excellent. Some of the shots composition by debutant director
Prabhu Solomon deserve praise. He seems to have talent in executing the movie in stylish way but he has poor script sense. Or seems so. Music is good. Two songs especially the first night number is lilting.
Bottom-line
16 Days is copied from Hollywood movie Lucky Number Slevin but the execution in the second half goes haywire. The movie is good in bits but on the whole is not that interesting. Concept is okay but somewhere down the movie, the director loses its focus.
Rating: 2.5/5
Reviewed by JP
