Tahaan (2008) - Movie Review




Movie Name : Tahaan

Movie Cast : Purav Bhandare, Anupam Kher, Rahul Bose, Rahul Khanna, Sana Shaikh, Sarika, Victor Banerji, Ankush Dubey and Dheirya Sonecha

Movie Director : Santosh Sivan

Music Director : Adnan, Taufique

Rating : 3 / 5


Santosh Sivan’s ‘Tahaan’ - is a fable-like journey of the eponymous eight-year-old boy in ravaged Kashmir.

The film is set against the picturesque backdrop of Kashmir and tells the story of a little boy too innocent to comprehend the evil around him- all he wants is his donkey that was sold against his will by his mother to make ends meet.

The story tells the tale of the journey he takes to try and win back the donkey- from running a race, to meeting strange ‘babas’ to even things much more sinister than his naive mind can make sense of. All he wants is his donkey Birbal.

The story is told from the point of view of the boy - Tahaan.

For him, bringing his favorite donkey Birbal back home is for the sole purpose in life.

The story is simple and sweet but sometimes it becomes hard to narrate a simple story and that’s what has troubled Santosh Sivan too as he fails to sustain the same graph in the film.

There are some very touchy moments in the film, the climax being the best of the lot. The screenplay could have been much tighter and crisper.

Rahul Bose is thanda but you can’t blame him for it as his character doesn’t have the kind of meat required to show off one’s acting skills. His accent is a big problem.

As expected Anupam Kher has once again given a good performance. Sarika is excellent.

The boy Purav Bhandare is very well cast.

He’s the find of the movie. In one word he is outstanding! You just can’t take your eyes off the screen when he is on it, which is practically throughout the movie.

The film lacks commercial value and hence it would be difficult for it to stay in the theatres for long. This surely isn’t a film for the masses.

But you can catch it for the wonderful cinematography of Santosh Sivan if not anything else