Tahaan

<p>After salvaging money using various means, Tahaan reaches the moneylender to reclaim Birbal. He is told that old Subhan Dar ( ) bought the donkey and went across the mountains in which Tahaan’s father went missing. Gathering courage, Tahaan goes in search of the old man. He finds him, and he follows Subhan and his assistant Zafar ( ) and their mule train, leading Birbal despite their protests. Although Subhan promises to return Birbal to Tahaan if he can win a race against the incompetent Zafar, when he wins, Subhan refuses to give him Birbal. Instead, Subhan gives the donkey to his eight-year-old nephew. Zafar tries to give Tahaan his sunglasses as a replacement for the donkey, but Tahaan does not accept the gift. On his way back home, Tahaan encounters Idrees, a teenager who discourages him, saying that his efforts will not be sufficient to get Birbal back. Instead, he suggests doing him a favour. Tahaan is asked to take a package across the mountains in his onward journey. Upon seeing his eagerness, Idrees hands him over a grenade and says that when the time is right, he will be told what needs to be done. At a checkpoint, the package and grenade are not discovered due to the fact that the soldiers know and trust Subhan Darr. Tahaan is about to commit a terrorist act with the grenade and has already removed the pin when he changes his mind and throws it safely in a river. He then sees his father emerge from the building he almost blew up.<br /> Subhan’s nephew learns that Tahaan is fond of Birbal, and at his request, Subhan gives the donkey back to Tahaan. After major commercial releases such as (1999), (2001), (2005) and (2007), award-winning director got the idea for this film after reading a newspaper report. He formed a -like story from the report. Since is a strife-torn area, films are rarely picturised there. However, in the case of this film, Sivan thought that audiences can relate it to the film well. It was only after 18 years that a film was filmed in Kashmir. While filming in Pahalgam, Sivan realised to his surprise that children were comfortable with guns. It seemed to him that it was a part of everyday life for them. The film makes eloquent use of verses or , for which the director took help from research scholars in Kashmir. When shooting there we only wanted to show the real life. I had heard some Quranic verses there at some . I thought I could use them to send a message of hope. I wanted to use the azaan for a nice purpose, a beautiful thing, not for any wrong deed… At the end I wanted to show the positive power of a dream. The film opened to generally positive reviews. Ziya Us Salam of hailed the film as a ‘visual poem’ and “Responsible cinema, brilliant cinema.” Raja Sen of gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a “must-watch”. Rajiv Masand of called it a “film of great virtue” and gave 3 out of 5 stars. called it a “film of first-rate performances”. The film has gone to the following festivals: was picked up for US distribution by GKIDS. The film premiered at the Centerpiece Selection of the MIAAC Indian Film Festival, as well as the Starz Denver Film Festival, the St Louis Film Festival, the Three Rivers Film Festival, and the New York/San Francisco International Children’s Film Festival.</p>