16 Vayathinile

16 Vayathinile (1977)

பதினாறு வயதினிலே

Sixteen-year-old Mayil is secretly loved by her handicapped cousin, Chappani, and the village rowdy, Parattai. But, she falls for a city doctor who takes advantage of her and deserts her. Gradually she realises how much Chappani loves her meanwhile, Parattai also eyeing for Mayil.

Date of release
1977-09-15
TMDB
7.5 / 10 (12)
Runtime
2h 19m
Genres
Romance, Drama
Director
Bharathiraja

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 2 · Nominations: 0. Including: National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer; Filmfare Awards South

16 Vayathinile is a 1977 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film co-written and directed by Bharathiraja in his directorial debut. The film stars Kamal Haasan, Sridevi, and Rajinikanth, with Gandhimathi, Sathyajith and Goundamani in supporting roles. It focuses on the strengths and vulnerabilities of Mayil (Sridevi), a 16-year-old schoolgirl, and the challenges she faces and overcomes.

Production

Bharathiraja planned to write and direct a black-and-white film titled Mayil that would be funded by the National Film Development Corporation of India (NDFC), but according to him, the NFDC withdrew "at the last minute" without specifying a reason. The project was eventually picked up by S. A. Rajkannu who produced it under his banner Sri Amman Creations.

When the film was in development in black-and-white, Bharathiraja envisioned Nagesh in the role of Chappani. After it was changed to colour, he wanted Lakshmanan to sign Kamal Haasan for the role of Chappani, expecting to pay Haasan ₹15,000 since the actor had received ₹17,000 for Aayirathil Oruthi (1975).

Rajinikanth was cast as the village ruffian Parattaiyan. Bharathiraja stated in 2013 that although had finalised ₹3,000 as the salary for Rajinikanth after the actor initially charged ₹5,000, he was ultimately paid ₹2,500. Some years later, he stated that Rajinikanth's salary was lower than Haasan's due to him not being an established star then but claimed uncertainty about the exact salary details.

For the role of Mayil's mother Kuruvammal, Bharathiraja wanted someone who could speak the village dialect fluently and chose Gandhimathi for her acting style. Receiving a salary of ₹150, Bhagyaraj was initially considered for the veterinarian's role but declined as he wanted to concentrate on directing; despite that, he still made a cameo appearance in the film.

Shot mainly in Mysore and Kollegal, 16 Vayathinile was the first Tamil film made predominantly outdoors and no sets were used. Due to budgetary constraints the crew could not afford a camera which could film slow motion and Sridevi had to run in slow motion for the song "Chendoora Poove". For his character, Haasan grew his curly hair long and wore lungis and khadi high-buttoned shirts.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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