I was intrigued by the movie long back when I saw it’s trailers. The star cast was impressive and the plot was interesting as well. Set in the backdrop of Kashmir, it was the story of a small boy and his pet donkey. I managed to miss the movie, but with so much left to catch up when it comes to movies and books, it is not difficult to forget one movie. Until recently.
Perhaps, it was Friday, when the name of the movie cropped up. A friend casually mentioned that the protagonist of the movie, is my Dentist’s son. I happen to be one of the Dentist’s regular patients (Sigh!) My Dentist is a very handsome chap so his son in the movies was not something unimaginable. Predictably, I went home and googled ‘Tahaan’. It was indeed my dentist’s 8 year old son in the movie.
I picked up the title the very next day. And was very excited about watching a movie I had long forgotten about. The prospect of watching Sarika, Rahul Bose, Anupam Kher and Victor Bannerjee was mouth watering. And of course, it featured my Dentist’s son! The title of the movie intrigued me. Tahaan in Marathi means thirst. I could not recall what it meant in Hindi or Urdu. Upon googling it, I realised that it meant ‘Merciful’ in some languages and in Bengali it meant ‘Tolerance’. In the end, Tahaan turned out to be the Kid’s name.
Tahaan’s mother (Sarika, expectedly brilliant performance) sells his pet donkey to a businessman make both the ends meet. The movie revolves around a distraught Tahaan trying to get Birbal, his pet Donkey, back. (Apt name for a donkey too!) Tahaan believes that his life’s purpose is to get his donkey back and would do anything for it.
The Kid (Purav Bhandare) was a revelation. He was so cute and so vulnerable at times, that you almost reach out to him to protect him from this world. Innocence , sensitivity was like second nature, when he cried, I smiled benignly almost as if to say, ‘Kid, don’t worry nothing’s going to happen, Indian movies have happy endings!’ Aah, how I wish I was a child again..!! :D
