Tahaan

Saturday, September 11 - Sunday, September 12, 2010

From award winning director Santosh Sivan, TAHAAN is a stunningly shot, fable-like story set in scenic but strife-ridden Kashmir. The conflict is used as backdrop for the story of an eight-year-old boy, Tahaan, who tries to gain back his beloved pet donkey that has been sold to pay the family debt.

With his father missing in action for three years, Tahaan lives with his older sister, his loving, parable telling grandfather, and mute mother, but is left more or less on his own to wander village and countryside, navigate border checkpoints, and negotiate with merchants and money lenders in an effort to regain his lost pet.

More than a war movie, this is a film about striving, finding life-purpose and, finally, of right and wrong — as Tahaan is recruited by a young militant to throw a grenade into an army compound, building up to a heart-thumping (but thankfully non-tragic) final scene. Like Sivan’s earlier films, TAHAAN is told with warmth, humor and simple honesty, while gorgeous cinematography offers breathtaking views of Kashmir’s snow-covered mountain passes and shimmering lakes, and a recurring encounter with a group of mystic Sufi singers provides a compellingly exotic musical bed.

• Country India
• Rating NR
• Year 2008
• Running Time 105 minutes
• Director Santosh Sivan

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