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Producer &
Director: Aamir Khan
Starring: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tanay Chheda,
Tisca Chopra, M.K. Raina, Vipin Sharma
Aamir Khan
popularly known as a "thinking actor" is also
particularly gifted with imagery. Taare Zameen Par which
is Aamir Khan's debut as a director is a landmark film!
It is a hart-warming tale of a small child who has
learning difficulties and is largely misunderstood by
his teachers and even his parents.
The film is a story of a playful eight year old boy
Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary) who is naughty, playful
and lives in his own world. He is lagging in his school
subjects, doesn't listen, but gifted with a nice sense
of imagination. A child nowadays, lagging academically
is termed as a below average child.
With him
underperforming in studies, often having fights with
neighborhood boys and not listening to his parents, his
father decides to move him into a boarding school. The
situation worsens further even after admitting him in
the boarding school, disregarding this unwilling child's
pleas.
Ramshankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) is the new temporary art
teacher who is full of joy and optimism. He works
part-time with a special-needs school. Nikumbh's entry
in this movie is with a catchy "Bam Bam Bhole" song who
wants his pupils to open up. This teacher breaks all the
rules of 'how things are done' by asking the students to
think, dream and imagine. The children respond with
enthusiasm, all except Ishaan. Nikumbh soon realizes
that Ishaan is very unhappy; but being a sympathetic
teacher he doesn't want to force himself through the
child's problem. He sets out to know why this boy is
unhappy, and after meeting the boy's parents he analyzes
that Ishaan has dyslexia.
CREDITS
Directed by:
Aamir Khan
Writing credits
Amole Gupte : Screenplay
Cast:
Darsheel Safary - Ishaan Awasthi
Aamir Khan - Ram Shankar Nikumbh
Tanay Chheda - Rajan Damodraan
Tisca Chopra - Ishaan's mother
Vipin Sharma - Ishaan's father
Sachet Engineer - Ishaan's elder brother
M.K. Raina
Produced by: Aamir Khan
Sunitha Ram - Line producer
B. Shrinivas Rao - Executive producer
Kiran Rao - associate producer
Original Music: Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa, Ehsaan
Noorani, Shailendra Barve
Cinematography by - M. Sethuraaman (as Setu)
Film Editing by - Deepa Bhatia
Production Design by Shruti Gupte
Costume Design by Priyanjali Lahiri
Production Management
Advait Chandan - Assistant Production Manager
Second Unit:
Nazneen Bhatia - Third Assistant Director
Tanmay Mohan - Second Assistant Director
Sunil Pandey - First Assistant Director
Sound Department
Anup Dev - Final Mixing Engineer
Baylon Fonseca - Supervising Sound Editor
Nakul Kamte - Sound Designer
Lyrics - Prasoon Joshi
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Ishaan has a very normal family - hard working dad, a
committed mom, loving and intelligent elder brother, who
is an example of a perfect good boy. In contrast, Ishaan
is always mocked by his fellow students and often he would
get into fights with them. For his school teachers, he is
just short of a black sheep. But here is a boy whose world
is filled with wonders that no one else seems to
appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs and kites are just not
important in the world of adults, specifically his
parents, who are only interested in things like homework,
marks and neatness. Moreover, this boy just cannot seem to
get anything right in class.
Till almost the first half, it is all about how this
unfortunate boy is misunderstood. The director has
brilliantly portrayed the ordeals and plight such a child
usually experiences from his peers, teachers, neighbors
and now even his parents.
Nikumbh is awe stuck seeing Ishaan's drawings before the
boy was shunted away from his family. Whereas in the
boarding school this boy had lost his interest in this art
at which he was immensely imaginative and creative. Aamir
Khan informs the boy's parents (even meant to be a message
to the audience) that dyslexia is more common among the
kids than we think, and that it can be helped given the
proper aid. Nikumbh even speaks to the faculties who are
on the verge of dispelling the boy, requests them that
Ishaan be given a little more time, and, after having
educating them and the audience thoroughly on dyslexia, he
proceeds to lure Ishaan out of it.
The art teacher works on him, makes his parents realize
how they were wrong. He finally succeeds in getting a
winner out of this child!! Proper care and understanding
attitude of parents can convert a looser into a winner.
Darsheel Safary is simply
marvellous, making you believe that he is Ishaan and not
just an actor enacting a role in the role as we see him
disorientated, hurt, and then frustrated with constant
rejection. Very natural performances by Ishaan's father
(played by Vipin Sharma), his unpretentious and devoted
mother (Tisca Chopra) and his elder bro. Aamir Khan is
awesome with his earnest efforts as a teacher. Just simple
yet brilliant.
One of the delicate scenes is a particular moment showing
of the flipbook which shows a family with one kid moving
away (or just shunted away from his family) as the pages
turn - very touchy. The penultimate moments in this film
would melt even the stone-hearted!
Taare Zameen Par is an outstanding work of cinema. To miss
it would be unfortunate. It stresses that we need to give
our children their space and should not force themselves
into constant comparisons with other bright kids. A
message for parents: Please do yourselves a favor. Watch
this film with your kids. Though it may or may not change
your world but would definitely change the way you look at
your children!
This film is a "master's
piece" textbook for all the parents in this world.
Dyslexia (n) meaning: A learning disorder marked by
impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend
written words. (The director sends a message through this
film - that if given proper care, attention and patience,
dyslexia can be treated properly, especially which is
usually more identified among children.)
- PAW
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