South Asian

Tahaan

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Southeast Premiere!

Award-winning director Santosh Sivan (The Terrorist) returns to the South Asian Film Festival with this stunningly shot, fable-like story set in scenic but strife-ridden Kashmir.  The conflict is used as a backdrop for the saga of an eight-year-old boy, Tahaan (Purav Bhandare), who tries to get back his beloved pet donkey that has been sold along with other possessions to help pay the family debt.  With his father missing in action, the boy lives with his older sister, his loving, parable-telling grandfather, and mute mother, but is more or less on his own to wander village and countryside, navigate border checkpoints, and negotiate with merchants and money lenders in a effort to regain his lost pet.  Reminiscent of the innocent, uncorrupted territory that Satyajit Ray travelled with little Apu 50 years ago, TAHAAN is a tender tale told with warmth and humor and a beautiful work that mesmerizes with its simplicity.  Anupam Kher, Sarika, Rahul Bose, and Victor Banerjee co-star.