Taken Young

Growing up in the 80s had its charms. Those were simpler times, before mobile phones and the internet netted the young. Walking to school, biking on lonely trails, earning money, doing odd jobs and starting some ‘forest fires’ were what teenagers did with their time. Friendships were real and not virtual, and you knew that your friends would have your back just the way you would have theirs when they needed it. One winter, when life was at its slowest in the sleepiest of little towns, a group of friends unwittingly cross paths with a gang of delinquent youngsters and instances of house breaking around town. Things turn ugly when one of them is found dead and later reported as having committed suicide. Shattered and instructed to stay away from anything remotely connected with the incident and the ensuing investigation, the friends struggle to cope with the situation. How could they keep quiet knowing their friend was murdered?

‘Taken Young’ is a short script from Writer Marven Likness. Likness recreates the nostalgia of the 80s in his script, complete with the pangs of growing up in a troubled neighbourhood. The long walks to school, the spur of the moment biking expeditions, smoking the occasional cigarette hidden from the parents, earning one’s pocket money and the joy of spending it on friends are the simple joys of teenage life that Likness leans on while building the stage for his story. But underlying this idyllic Mid-80’s life is a layer of crime and bad-boys. Without ever unearthing this layer, Likness ensures it lies underneath throughout, threatening to break through into the lives of our characters.

‘Taken young’ is a story of growing up, not distracted by any opportunity to become a thriller or an adventure film. Though the hero does not win in the end, the story wins us over with no effort.