Of donkey love and Kashmir

Before you perverts start filling up your heads with dirty thoughts, let me clarify that this is a post about the movie Tahaan. I had wanted to catch this movie ever since i chanced upon it's review by Baradwaj Rangan. It was a complete coincidence that i happened to watch both the movies featured in that review in a space of a week. But the review got it right to the point. First rate performances in both movies, but talk about A Wednesday is reserved for another post.

Coming back to Tahaan, i am surprised by the sudden rise in precocious young talent , first Darsheel Safary in TZP and now here in Purav Bhandara who plays the protaganist. I just hope some of our 'superstars' could salvage half of what he does in this movie. As far as the story goes, it is about a boy who loses his donkey(can we call a donkey cute??!!! cos it was), Birbal, and his efforts in getting him back and what he manages to come across during the time. There are two things that struck me apart from the fine acting.

First, the cinematography. The scenes look like they are slideshows of picture perfect postcards lined up with characters thrown in to fit. Sadly, I have never been to Kashmir and so am not sure whether it's the place that lends itself to such achingly beautiful images or it's the man behind the camera who manages to dress it up so exquisitely. But thanks to Santosh Sivan for capturing it on camera. Here is a scene from the movie


Second, there were certain scenes in the movie that would have been worth the price of the admission ticket by themselves. There was a particular portion where Tahaan goes around asking the kids in the neighborhood whether they have seen his Birbal. Like all kids they are playing, but instead of the innocuous cops & thieves, they are playing militants and soldiers, gunning each other down. Violence, it seems, has stolen even the innocence of the kids at that point. But then a smile is put back on your face when Tahaan shows up for the security check when the army asks all the men in the village to assemble. I had a huge grin on my face when he tries explaining his presence to the officer. There was this other scene where , in the land of the apples, a Kashmiri pandit's hand reaches out to steal an apple left on a window ledge of a devastated home by Anupam Kher. Forced to steal from their own orchards!! It was indeed sad. It was gems like these in what was still a good story that made it great.

On the whole it was a good 90 minutes spent. Hopefully we get to see the kid in more movies going forward. And hopefully the donkey too.