Tahaan from Santosh Sivan
Santosh Sivan (born in Trivandrum, Kerala, India) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, and producer who has worked Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi cinema. He has won five National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards, and ten international film festival awards. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, after which he began his career as a cinematographer and went on to become the most sought after in his field.
Watch his film Tahaan on zinemaya.com
His film, Tahaan (2008), which dealt with the bond between an 8 year old boy and his pet donkey as they grow up in the terror stricken valley of Kashmir, garnered rave reviews in the country as well as positive reviews and awards at several International Film Festivals. It is a fable-like journey of the eponymous eight-year-old boy, whose life revolves around the pursuit to find real purpose in his little world.
Watch Tahaan on zinemaya.com
Tahaan (Purav Bhandare) lives with his grandfather (Victor Banerjee), mother Haba (Sarika) and older sister Zoya (Sana Shaikh) in the Kashmir valley. The family lives with the ardent hope that the boy’s father, who’s been missing for over three years, will return home. The death of the grandfather pushes them into financial crisis. The local moneylender and his manager (Rahul Khanna) take away the family’s assets including Tahaan’s donkey, Birbal, in lieu of an unpaid loan. While the rest of the family seeks redemption from the crises, Tahaan is determined to bring Birbal back home.
Watch Tahaan on zinemaya.com
After salvaging money using various means, Tahaan reaches the moneylender to reclaim Birbal. He is told that old Subhan Darr (Anupam Kher) bought the donkey and went across the mountains in which Tahaan’s father went missing. Gathering courage, Tahaan goes in search of the old man. He finds him and he follows Subhan and his assistant Zafar (Rahul Bose) and their mule train, leading Birbal despite their protests. Although Subhan promises to return Birbal to Tahaan if he can win a race against the incompetent Zafar, when he wins Subhan refuses to give him Birbal. Instead, Subhan gives the donkey to his eight year old nephew. Zafar tries to give Tahaan his sunglasses as a replacement for the donkey, but Tahaan will not accept the gift.
Watch Tahaan on zinemaya.com
On his way back home, Tahaan encounters Idrees, a teenager who discourages him, saying that his efforts will not be sufficient to get Birbal back. Instead he suggests to do him a favor. Tahaan is asked to take a package across the mountains in his onward journey. Upon seeing his eagerness, Idrees hands him over a grenade and says that when the time is right, he will be told what needs to be done. At a checkpoint the package and grenade are not discovered due to the fact that the soldiers know and trust Subhan Darr. Tahaan is about to commit a terrorist act with the grenade and has already removed the pin, when he changes his mind and throws it safely in a river. He then sees his father emerge from the building he almost blew up. Subhan’s nephew learns that Tahaan is fond of Birbal, and at his request Subhan gives the donkey back to Tahaan.
Watch Tahaan on zinemaya.com
The film opened to generally positive reviews. Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu hailed the film as a ‘visual poem’ and “Responsible cinema, brilliant cinema.” Raja Sen of Rediff gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a “must-watch”. Rajiv Masand of CNN-IBN called it a “film of great virtue” and gave 3 out of 5 stars. Tahaan won a High Commendation in Children’s Feature Film section at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It also won “The German Star Of India award” at “Bollywood and Beyond” festival at Stuttgart Germany in 2009 and a lot of appreciation from other high profile international festivals. Watch the movie HERE.
