Taish Hindi Movie

Much of what happens in Bejoy Nambiar's slick thriller is all behavior and mood. For the major part of Taish, we see characters getting angry, but we do not quite feel their emotions. It does not help that Nambiar shows it all in broad strokes, even though his class is unmistakable. Nov 1, 2020 By Sreejith Mullappilly

Where To Watch:

For a decidedly slick revenge thriller, Bejoy Nambiar's 'Taish' takes a long time to find its footing. The first hour of this Zee5 film is vague, with two stranded narratives that barely add to what comes later in the film. One of the narratives is about two brothers who are at loggerheads after the elder, Kuljinder (Abhimanyu Singh) marries the younger, Pali's (Harshvardhan Rane) lover. The movie opens with the image of Pali barging into the marriage ceremony of his lover, Jahaan played by Sanjeeda Sheikh, and Kuljinder.

Taish means anger, and much of what happens early in Nambiar's movie is all behavior and mood. We see characters getting angry, but we do not quite feel their emotions. It does not help that Nambiar shows it all in broad strokes.

The other stranded narrative is centered on Sunny (Pulkit Samrat) and Rohan (Jim Sarbh) who attend their brother's marriage. As the private affair gets rolling, something terrible happens, which in turn triggers a chain of events that they find hard to escape. The bad situation somehow sees the brothers and their families' lives colliding in a way that leads to more heads rolling and much bloodshed.

Taish is the kind of movie that works best when you do not take it all that seriously. There are some kick-ass moments of filming here that you want to doff your hat to. I found myself mesmerized by a scene where Jim Sarbh's Rohan enters a dimly lit room to confront a paralyzed man. Bejoy and his cinematographer Harashvir Oberoi have framed this moment in a way that lends some heft to the movie's revenge angle. We do not see Rohan entering the room from a usual angle; rather, we see it through a mirror. It is almost as if the mirror is a symbol of his conscience. For once, Nambiar's affinity for style meets substance cinema seems sound.

The moment has no verbose or gratuitous violence, like the rest of Taish has. Therefore, it feels earned. But one or two moments alone do not make a movie work. It does not and should not exist in isolation. As Howard Hokes once said, "A good movie is three good scenes and no bad scenes."

There is one out of place scene in Taish where a prisoner casually has intercourse with his emotionally wrecked lover inside the prison. I understand that powerful people have the clout to mend the law and order in their favor. But the intercourse scene belongs in a universe other than the world of Taish's characters.

Anyhow, there are riveting acting moments here, especially from Pulkit Samrat and Jim Sarbh. Harshvardhan Rane looks the part in many moments, but he also does some posturing in some. Nevertheless, it is admirable that they all manage to scrape through this mostly experimental thriller with respectable performances. Taish is available on Zee5 as a movie and a web series. I only saw the movie version of it for the purpose of this review.