The question that is uppermost in my mind after watching Kicha Vayasu 16 is how in the world the producer managed to get Simran to act in it. Did he have something incriminating on her? Maybe another bathing video?! Without something like that, I can't see how he could have convinced her to attach herself to this silly, vulgar and cheap film. After having ruled Tamil cinema for so many years, Simran deserved a much better movie to say goodbye with.

Krishamoorthy alias Kicha(Jai Akash) is returning as Collector to the place he grew up in and watching his school being bulldozed to the ground brings back memories of his life in school. He(Manikandan) used to be the troublemaker at his school and the worst nightmare of its teachers. He develops a crush on Nirmala(Simran), who arrives as the new headmistress but doesn't realize the feelings Subbulakshmi, one of his classmates, has for him.

This is a movie where someone who looks like Manikandan when he is 16 years old ends up looking like Jai Akash just 12 years later. I'm sorry but barring some phenomenal plastic surgery or a miracle, that kind of physical transformation just doesn't seem possible. That should pretty much tell you the importance given in the film to logic, continuity and other aspects normally considered important in filmmaking.

The movie's inspiration is obviously Thulluvadho Ilamai. It follows a similar storyline of a man, now quite successful in life, looking back fondly on his years in school. In that film, the hero's acts in school reflected the behavior of a boy in his adolescent years. Though dealing with sex, they successfully portrayed the awkwardness that is a part of that age. But Manikandan's acts here are silly and vulgar. They look like they are part of some kind of a vulgar comedy track rather than the main storyline and some of the scenes wouldn't be out of place even in a (badly made) soft porn film. Naturally, the schoolgirl's one-sided romance fails to make an impact since she would have to be of unsound mind to fall in love with someone like Manikandan.

But the director is unable to stick to even this storyline. So he makes some detours that pull the movie's quality even further down. One particular scene, involving the males in Manikandan's house looking for a piece of underwear, was almost surreal in how bad and cheap it is.

Simran's beration of Manikandan is convincing and harsh enough to make us believe that it could have brought about a change in him. But we are given no glimpse of the actual transformation that turned the poor student into a collector. Its almost as if the director was adamant that he would have no sequences that showed the characters doing something positive or useful!

Simran looks quite fat and the fine actress we've seen in movies like Vaali and Kannathil Muthamittaal peeks out only in the scene where she shouts at Manikandan. Manikandan looks every bit the part but I'm not sure thats a good thing. Jai Akash has to be content serving as fillers between the flashback sequences.