 Life without goal is meaningless. And, Tahaan's grandfather gives the same sermon to the little boy, who follows the word in getting back his lost donkey. It becomes his solitary goal in life. Eight-year old Tahaan (Purav Bhandare), who stays with his grand father (Victor Banerjee) and a dumb mother Haba (Sarika), loves his friend, Birbal-a donkey. Birbal is his best friend and they share a special bondage. But, the poor boy loses his friend at the hands of a village moneylender. The moneylender sells the donkey to a trader, Subhan Darr (Anupam Kher) and getting Birbal back becomes the sole objective of Tahaan's life. Though, Tahaan gets back his pet but the naive child undergoes a foul game of terrorism in the process. This is the outline of Santosh Sivan's Tahaan that tells the tale of a little Kashmiri boy with a grenade in his hand.
 After depicting love of a child for his puppy in 'Halo' (1996) and a terrorist mission to assassinate a political leader in The Terrorist (1999), Santosh has tried to club the central theme of his previous two movies in Tahaan. And, he has done this successfully as Tahaan's affection for his donkey in the backdrop of terrorism in Kashmir has been beautifully portrayed in the film.
Santosh has a different style of film-making. With a small budget, he has
produced a really sensitive movie. He depicts Kashmiri life beautifully. All the artists have done justice to their roles. The perfomance backed strong script is only strengthened by awesome aura of the exotic locations of Kashmir. There is no way for for movie to go unnoticed.
 But what really works for the movie is the acting of little Purav in the role of Tahaan. Purav's histrionics speak a lot in the movie and support the script. The innocence on his face and his attachment towards the
animal is the USP of Tahaan. He prefers to be called a man than a boy and is ready to go to any extent to live with his donkey. This is exactly true about his acting potential. He can claim to be a man among child actors. Sivan, too, should get credit for Purav's stupendous acting. To add on, there are strong performances from proven actors like, Sarika, as a dumb woman waiting for her husband, Anupam Kher as kind hearted trader and Rahul Bose as a foolish shepherd.
After the success of 'Taare Zameen Par' and and animated film 'Hanuman', filmmakers in Bollywood have realised the commercial viability of children's films. Before the release of the movie, Santosh has, in fact, asserted this view. However, Tahaan is different from the other commercial films of the same genre in the way that it also deals with the
subject of a grown up and complicated people. Yet, it a very simple and sensitive film.
Though, there is big drawback in the film that it requires a sensitive brain and heart to appreciate the it. Those who want to have loads of fun out of it because it's a children's movie might return disappointed. Surely, Tahaan is not an option for them. For rest, buying tickets can never be problem.
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