I love watching movies, especially off-beat. I watched Tahaan yesterday – such a sweet movie! Reminded me of Children of Heaven. Purav Bhandare plays Tahaan, and he is the most adorable kid ever!! His acting is flawless and holds your attention completely. Small things like his dancing bring such joy to the heart that you just want to rewind and watch him again and again. Just watching him in the movie was so sweet and filled me with a warmth and sadness for all the unfortunate kids in the world. So innocent… The movie had all my favorite actors – Rahul Khanna, Rahul Bose, and Anupam Kher. Truly a must-watch!
Tahaan lives with his mom (played by Sarika), older sister, and grandfather in terror-ridden Kashmir. His father is away with the terrorists fighting against the military. But before leaving, he gave Tahaan a donkey, Birbal. Tahaan loves Birbal. However, his grandfather dies and Tahaan’s mom has to sell the donkey to make ends meet. She sells it to Rahul Khanna. Tahaan goes to get his donkey back but Rahul K. refuses. Tahaan is upset, and sees a man hitting his donkey because the donkey refuses to move. Sweet Tahaan picks up a stone and tells the man that if he doesn’t stop hitting the donkey, he will hit the man with the stone. So cute! Tahaan slips in and frees Birbal at night. Birbal runs back home and Tahaan is happy. But his mom makes him return the donkey. Tahaan is very upset with this, and tells Rahul K. that he will work with Birbal, and if he is around Birbal will work harder. But RK tells him to go home.
Tahaan finds out that Birbal has been sold to Anupam Kher, and goes to AK. AK tells him to get lost, but Tahaan is adamant. Anupam then meets Rahul Bose, who works for him, and the two leave for their town along with another women (Nadia) who accompanies them for a safe exit through security. Tahaan follows them in the falling snow, but finally gets tired and starts freezing. AK and the team know that he is following them, and get worried when they don’t see him around. They finally find him under a rock. After giving him some warm fluids, they take him with them seated on Birbal. On the way they see some men singing and playing music. Tahaan, adorable as he is, runs and dances with them and enjoys the music. He is truly a sweet kid. He asks AK and the rest to dance with him.
After dropping off Nadia, AK challenges Rahul Bose and Tahaan to do a race between Rahul’s horses and Tahaan’s donkey. If Rahul wins, he will get a cell phone, and if Tahaan wins he will get Birbal back. Tahaan’s donkey is no match for R’s horses, but R has an eye for women. He sees Nadia in a marriage procession and stops to eye the women. Tahaan continues to run, and he wins. His determination to win and get Birbal back is heart-warming. He meets AK’s nephew who is of the same age. AK gives Birbal to his nephew. This upsets T, because AK had told T that if the donkey wins he would get Birbal back. AK refuses. No amount of money or goodies will get Tahaan to change his mind about Birbal. Tahaan calls him a liar and runs back home in tears. Such as sweet kid. On the way he stops by an ice pond. A man stops by and asks Tahaan why he is crying. Tahaan tells him about Birbal. The man (Ittres) tells Tahaan not to worry, he would take T to his “peer baba” or “wise man” who will bring back his donkey. T says that he will meet him the next day.
The next day, T accompanies AK to his town again, and on the way back stops by the ice pond. Ittres takes T to peer baba. T sees people with guns, and is fascinated with the guns. He then meets peer baba who tells him to go to school and play. Ittres gives T a grenade to keep at home, and take to AK’s town the next day.
T again accompanies AK to his town. Everyday, AK brought fruits from T’s town to his own town on horses and the donkey, and has to go through a security checkpoint. T hides the grenade in the box full of fruits. Ittres asks T to transfer another package as well, which T hides under the donkey’s saddle. At the security checkpoint, T is nervous but gets through fine. Once T reaches the town, AK’s nephew takes T up to his room and shows him some figurines that he made about his parents, AK, Birbal, and Tahaan. He tells T that he lost his parents in the terrorism in Kashmir. T asks him why he doesnt buy another donkey, since Birbal is T’s donkey.
Ittres then comes to see T. T gives Ittres the package, but Ittres says that T needs to do one more thing for him. T by then is frustrated and asks if he will get his donkey back then. Ittres says yes. Ittres tells T that T has to throw the grenade and blast a house. T agrees to do it for his donkey. But by then T suspects that something is amiss. You get the feeling that T is very innocent like all kids, but is a smart kid and will not be taken for a ride. And he is smart enough to take care of himself.
In the meanwhile, AK’s nephew tells AK to return the donkey to T. AK says that Birbal cost him a lot of money, but his nephew tells him that AK taught him that he should find happiness in other’s happiness. AK is happy to see the goodness of his nephew’s heart, and that his nephew will grow up to be a good man.
T goes to the house that he has to blow up, and sees a puppy on rows of sacks. T removes the dog so that it doesn’t get hurt. When T is about to throw the grenade he sees the door open and a few militants inside with some prisoner. T doesn’t want anyone to get hurt. He turns around to throw the grenade in the opposite direction, when he sees AK’s nephew come running after Birbal. T then runs to the river and throws the grenade in it. This scene got me at the edge of my seat, because I was scared that the grenade would go off in T’s hands and he would blow up. After the grenade blows up in the river, T returns to the house and sees that the militants are with his father! He calls out to his dad, who doesn’t hear him. He runs back home and tells his mom that he saw his father. His mom then goes to prison to meet her husband, whom she had cried for and waited for so long.
When T wakes up the next morning, he sees that his donkey is back! Happy ending! The movie is truly worth watching. Tahaan is so innocent and cute, and small things like him dancing bring such warmth to the heart. And yet the fact that terrorists would take advantage of such innocence to transfer weapons is scary, because it probably happens in Kashmir. Such a paradise reduced to this, because India and Pakistan keep fighting. How did it all start? Why? When I was in school, students were taken to Kashmir on a trip. I chose not to go because I wanted to go home to my parents, but I wish I had gone. I will never get to see the beautiful Kashmir ever! Such a shame. The movie made me think of all the unfortunate kids, and I really want to do something for them. Its just so unfair that kids, who are innocent, have to go through so much pain and trouble. I wish this film had received more support and marketing.
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I enjoyed watching Dostana, although some scenes seemed to be a drag. Overall a very funny movie, with oodles of chemistry between John and Abhishek. Their offline chemistry translated onscreen, and it was such a pleasure to watch them. Especially the scenes with Kiron Kher – so funny! Their bloopers and funny clips were hilarious, especially where both are trying to kiss and burst out laughing. Wonder how many takes that took. And their Koffee with Karan was entertaining too. I had no idea Abhishek was so hilarious and such a langoor. He is funny and yet articulate in expressing his POV. Totally complements his father and wife. Amitabh and Aish are so articulate, graceful, and hold themselves back, while Abhishek is funny and himself. I like this side of him.
I hate jumpsuits – they look dowdy and ugly, and are impractical. If at all, they would work well only as shorts, not pants or capris. They look like high-waisted mommy jeans and you have to have a very flat stomach to make them work. When you sit, they tend to balloon up in the front. I really don’t know why someone would want to wear a jumpsuit.
New York Fashion and My Rants 