Shivam's Insight Into Tahaan

Before Tahaan, the donkey has been a metaphor for stupidity. While horses, dogs and even snakes are eulogized in our movies, donkeys are always ridiculed. After Tahaan, Santosh Sivan knows better.

And now Santosh wants to make another film where the donkey could be seen as more than the stereotypical beast of burden. "I found my donkey Birbal in Tahaan to be as intelligent as some of my human actors. I want to write a film revolving around him. Donkeys have always been the underdogs. People use gadhaa as a derogatory term when they're intelligent creatures. It was hard to get a Donkey not to direct it” Sivan says

The donkey according to Santosh is a metaphor for the reality of Kashmir. They have eyesight that sees in a circumference of 360 degrees.

Santosh says he didn't want to make a grim film about militancy. He wanted to keep the tone light. That's why even when we hear guns and bomb blasts the narrative doesn't lose its innocence. The militants are not your typical extremists. The ones you are see are ambivalent in personality and motives.
Miraculously, Tahaan looks big-budgeted when it is relatively a smaller film.