Tahaan.. Wow!
Innocence exploited, Images of a burning fire that spits fury on the white ice of the valleys of Kashmir, visual metaphors galore – welcome to world class cinema!
A film which at the premise is a story of a boy who will do anything to get his pet donkey back, is also a real earthly fable of non fictitious events that have burnt the heaven on earth – Kashmir. Tahaan- the protagonist is a typical kid being himself - Talking to his donkey, sharing secrets with him. Poverty and misfortune strike one after the other and the family has to sell everything – finally, even the donkey.
What will he do get him back? Rather, what won’t he?
A failed attempt to steal it back (and genuinely making it look like it wasn’t stolen), racing the donkey against mules, nothing works. He finds comfort in a new friend Idriz who promises him that his Baba will get him his donkey back, for a favor. The rest is of course history. The child, without knowing the meaning of terrorism becomes a means of it.
More than story, more than the performance, more than anything else, Santosh Sivan’s success is that he tells you that the donkey is but a metaphor and how the extremists exploit your love for people and things to get you to indulge in terrorist activities.
Let us not forget that this is India’s best cinematographer, and now a matured director. While Ashoka seemed to be a spectacle of his camera sensibilities, this one is a showcase of sheer directorial genius. The man craftily uses ample visual metaphors every now and then, extracts performances that are beyond ordinary, uses music like an expert and in short, come out the real star of the film. While the opening credit sees the directors name flash in many departments, you wonder if he is being over pompous about himself. The fact is, he deserves to be!
The performances are bang on. Tahaan played by Purav Bhandare is the obvious sweet heart – he is the Darsheel of the year. Anupam Kher and Rahul Bose pitch in with strong roles too. But a line must be said in praise of Sarika who without uttering a single word in the film takes all your attention with her heart warming expressions and screen presence. Bravo!
There are no songs, but the music is brilliant. The film is brilliant in every department and is no short of a classic. This one should be a hit in all the festivals of the world. Box office? I pray, yes!
4.5 Stars!
Innocence exploited, Images of a burning fire that spits fury on the white ice of the valleys of Kashmir, visual metaphors galore – welcome to world class cinema!
A film which at the premise is a story of a boy who will do anything to get his pet donkey back, is also a real earthly fable of non fictitious events that have burnt the heaven on earth – Kashmir. Tahaan- the protagonist is a typical kid being himself - Talking to his donkey, sharing secrets with him. Poverty and misfortune strike one after the other and the family has to sell everything – finally, even the donkey.
What will he do get him back? Rather, what won’t he?
A failed attempt to steal it back (and genuinely making it look like it wasn’t stolen), racing the donkey against mules, nothing works. He finds comfort in a new friend Idriz who promises him that his Baba will get him his donkey back, for a favor. The rest is of course history. The child, without knowing the meaning of terrorism becomes a means of it.
More than story, more than the performance, more than anything else, Santosh Sivan’s success is that he tells you that the donkey is but a metaphor and how the extremists exploit your love for people and things to get you to indulge in terrorist activities.
Let us not forget that this is India’s best cinematographer, and now a matured director. While Ashoka seemed to be a spectacle of his camera sensibilities, this one is a showcase of sheer directorial genius. The man craftily uses ample visual metaphors every now and then, extracts performances that are beyond ordinary, uses music like an expert and in short, come out the real star of the film. While the opening credit sees the directors name flash in many departments, you wonder if he is being over pompous about himself. The fact is, he deserves to be!
The performances are bang on. Tahaan played by Purav Bhandare is the obvious sweet heart – he is the Darsheel of the year. Anupam Kher and Rahul Bose pitch in with strong roles too. But a line must be said in praise of Sarika who without uttering a single word in the film takes all your attention with her heart warming expressions and screen presence. Bravo!
There are no songs, but the music is brilliant. The film is brilliant in every department and is no short of a classic. This one should be a hit in all the festivals of the world. Box office? I pray, yes!
4.5 Stars!
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