REVIEW: Tahaan is painfully slow

Santosh Sivan's frames are almost always perfect. But some repetitive camera angles comes across as unpleasant surprises from a cinematographer-director known for his brilliant camerawork.

There are a few sparkling moments in the film – like the part where Zafar realises the woman he has been escorting all along is in fact heading to meet her fiancé or that other part where he begs his boss to part with his mobile phone if his horses beat the donkey. But these moments are far too little and most certainly not the strongest points of the film.

Why the film works

Despite everything, at one level Tahaan does work. It is the themes in the film that make one sit up and notice. Tahaan's innocence, for instance, is brought into question as he is about to take that one final step all for the sake of an animal.

The donkey too ceases to be just an animal. It becomes a metaphor for everything one holds dear and Tahaan's actions signify the extent to which one can go to get them back.

Through a single shot of an old man blowing into a Pepsi bottle through a straw, Sivan brilliantly brings to fore the redundancy of globalisation in the Valley.

Similarly the recurring scene of Tahaan trying to catch the sunrays filtering through his roof shows the tiny but distinct ray of hope in the otherwise terror-ridden area.

The performances

If there is one actor who carries off Tahaan, it is Purav Bhandare the child who plays the protagonist. Darsheel Safary may be good, but here's someone who can well give Darsheel a run for his money.

Sarika, playing Tahaan's mute mother, brings life in the few scenes merely through her expressions. Ditto for Rahul Bose who plays the village buffoon and Anupam Kher who discovers his soft side thanks to his nephew.

Rahul Khanna playing the moneylender does a convincing job making you wonder just why on earth he hasn't been doing films.

Verdict: If you like is slow and steady, go watch Tahaan. Else, there's always Hijack for you this weekend.

Rating: 2/5

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