“Kitni khoobsurat yeh tasveer hai, mausam bemisaal benazeer hai, yeh Kashmir hai, yeh Kashmir hai.” This song comes to my mind as I watch Tahaan along with a question How does Santosh Sivan do it?
Tahaan is a fable as the film states right in the beginning. The story is about a boy & his donkey, set in Kashmir. The film belongs to two people. Santosh Sivan & Purav Bhandare. Each & every frame of the film is pure visual delight that makes you wonder how this magician called Santosh Sivan works.
The way he has captured the location it becomes a character itself in the film. The other star of the film is Purav Bhandare. He will melt your heart with his wonderful performance. He is fantastic in the emotional scenes. The screenplay of the film is quite laborious stretching itself beyond control. This story would have worked wonderfully as a short film. The screenplay gets into a repetitive mode and takes it own sweet time to set up the story. You need tremendous patience & a craving for good cinema to sit through the story telling style of Santosh Sivan. The climax is hurried and does not create any impact. The supporting cast gives the film ample support except Sarika. She is wasted as the dumb mom of Tahaan. Rahul Bose provides comic relief as Zafar. Anupam Kher shines in his 2nd film this Friday. With this film & A Wednesday he brings credibility to his acting school. His students should feel proud of him that even after so many years of doing Good, Bad & Ugly films their teacher has not yet sold his soul. Dheriya Sonecha as Yasin also delivers a commendable performance. If you are a fan of Iranian films you will love Tahaan because in spirit it is an Iranian film. Not many know this man but Abhimanyu Ray the casting director of this film is emerging as one of the finest in his profession after Uma Da Cunha. He was also the casting director of Chak De! India. Need I say more?
Final Few words: You can enjoy the real beauty of the film only if you watch it on the big screen. If you intend watching it on small screen I suggest don’t watch it at all. It will be an insult to the talent of Santosh Sivan.
*** (Good)
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