Borrowing from the narrative of some brilliant Iranian films (those of Majid Majidi’s and Abbas Kiarostami’s), Santosh Sivan has actually painted the celluloid and the result “Tahaan” is a masterpiece. It just mesmerizes you with its simplicity… an innocence that is so rare in Hindi cinema. The scintillating colors of Kashmir have never been captured so beautifully before. Santosh Sivan’s camera becomes the brush and its strokes go on and on and on and on…so fluidly, that the result is simply hypnotizing.
The story can’t get simpler than this. Tahaan ( meaning-merciful) is the story of an eight-year old boy Tahaan ( Purav Bhandare) whose best friend is his donkey- Birbal. Birbal is everything for Tahaan. To pay some debts, Tahaan’s family has to give all their assets including Birbal to the local money lender (Rahul Khanna). Now getting his dearest Birbal back becomes the sole aim of Tahaan’s life and he is ready to pay any price for this purpose. Tahaan finally gets the donkey but at what price? This is one story where the journey is definitely more interesting than the destination.
There have been many films with Kashmir as the backdrop but none of them have come even remotely close to the real Kashmir both in terms of the visuals or atmosphere there. Tahaan is about the real Kashmir, without any preaching and without taking sides. It touches every aspect of the life of Kashmiris- the family waiting for the only man in their house, cross-border terrorism, unknown fears and a universal message hidden in the simple narrative. The language is also universal…the language of innocence. The purity of the mornings and the solitude of the evenings in Kashmir just drips from every frame of Tahaan. It is as if Santosh’s camera becomes a mere spectator of the happenings in young Tahaan’s life. No one seems to act and nothing seems made up. Wow! It’s just so real.If Santosh the cinematographer excels, Santosh the director surpasses him. The screenplay is brilliant and so are the dialogues. There are no pretensions, the story flows like a gentle breeze through the valley.
The performances are memorable. Anupam Kher is mind blowing; Sarika, is brilliant as Tahaan’s mute mother and Rahul Bose finally (after duds like Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam) is in top notch form. But Tahaan belongs to the young Purav, whose raw innocence delights you. From the first frame to the last, it doesn’t feel as if Purav is”acting” and that’s the biggest compliment. Also noteworthy are the performances by Sana Shaikh (who plays Tahaan’s sister Zoya), and Ankush Dubey (who plays the young ‘terrorist’ Idrees.) Small but wonderful roles.
And yeah, for the box office pundits- Tahaan actually “entertains” without any big stars and item songs. It may or may not rule the box office but such films rule the hearts of cinema lovers. And for the same reason I really wish such films should be regularly made and watched. Not everything could be measured in terms of business, some things are done for sheer indulgence. Watching Tahaan is one such beautiful indulgence. Watch It now…
Kudos Sivan Sahab!!!!
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