Teenz Review

Teenz: Parthiban's yet another multigenre experiment

National Award Winning veteran actor-director Radhakrishnan Parthiban is known for pushing the envelope in striving for novelty in his screenplays and filmmaking.  His latest multi genre experiment 'Teenz' has clashed head on with Shankar's 'Indian 2' at the box office.  Will this small film cause ripples amongst the audiences and the collection registers remains to be seen. 

'Teenz' opens interestingly enough with thirteen teenaged boys and girls who live in the same gated community feel that their parents are still treating them as childs.  The plan for an adventure to break the shackle and prove to the elders that they can survive on their own. .  One of the girls invites the others to her grandma's village which is known to be haunted by ghosts.  The group bunk classes and embark on the journey.  Unfortunately due to a riot they have to travel in dangerous terrain by foot and they encounter supernatural occurrences.  Then members of the group start disappearing with no trace and the others are perplexed not knowing whether to run for their lives or search for the missing ones.  Meanwhile the story takes an unexpected science fiction twist with the introduction of R. Parthiban as an eccentric astrophysicist.   What is the reason behind the disappearances and do the children survive the ordeal or not is what 'Teenz' is all about.

Acting wise the thirteen teens keep the audience engaged till the end of the first half.  A few of them are well written like Sara who is compassionate and stands for an underprivileged boy who is mistreated by the rest.  There is also a blossoming love between one of the boys and a girl that give rise to a few poetic Parthiban brand moments. Parthiban himself carries the astrophysicist's role adeptly.    The other characters are largely superfluous including the fortune teller slash ghost hunter.  The less said about Yogi Babu's two scene special appearance the better. 

What works best in 'Teenz' is the initial portions that captures the gated community teenagers' excesses and derring do.   The pacing picks up when the dogs chase the friends and they get into the cremation grounds until the first few disappearances.   The spaceship. cute little rovers and their actions also demand attention in the pre climax.  A few dialogues like Parthiban telling one of the girls that though he can gauge the alien's frequency he still can't God's frequency, get the claps.  

On the downside the screenplay gets trapped in a dejavu loop after a point and like the children wanders aimlessly around the grounds for a lengthy period of time.  Similarly after the children leave the city they all start to mouth dialogues like Parthiban losing their individuality for no fault of their own.  The feeling of the protagonists being trapped does not transfer to the audience which is a major letdown.  The genre shift from horror to science fiction does not happen  convincingly.  The film also conveniently forgets the coming of age layer that was touched upon in the opening.    It is questionable how much the Tamil family audience can digest teens consuming liqour, indulging in self harm and especially the physical intimacy between one of the boys and a girl.

D.Imman has provided the background in his usual style with a couple of ear pleasing songs and a couple that are forced into the narrative.  Gavemic Ary has done is bit with the lenses.  The VFX particularly in the alien ship scenes are not state of the art but are passable.  Radhakrishnan Parthiban deserves a pat on his back for his relentless pursuit of novel ideas.  If he had concentrated more on the writing 'Teenz' could have found its place in his career best list.

Verdict :  Go for it if you fancy Parthiban's experimental films that are always different from the run on the mill.