When today’s two big stars like Anil Kapoor and Akshay are fighting over whose name will appear first on the screen, it requires a star like Aamir to show his big heart by putting Darsheel’s name ahead of his in title credits. When today’s lead heroes want to be in each and every frame of movie, it requires guts from a actor like Aamir to let the child actor play the main lead and himself appear only in the second half. When filmmakers are eying the huge first weekend gross by either churning out comedies and DVD remakes, one has to applaud to the brave effort of a filmmaker like Aamir for handling a very risky project. When one of the country’s biggest star who is known, actually ridiculed, to be a perfectionist and is often accused of ghost directing his movies decides to don the mantle of direction, you expect a movie in which involves a greater level of thought process. And Aamir does not disappoint you. So guys, move beyond those run-of-the-mill Bollywood potboilers, those semi clad item girls, those six pack abs and dard-e discos, and give a chance to relevant, meaningful and thought provoking cinema.

Being Aamir’s directorial debut, one was sure of a didactic film. Somehow, Aamir never sets out to just tell a story or make a movie; the social message is always at hand. He would almost be a Satyajit Ray or a Shyam Benegal if not for the humor he manages to sprinkle in his movies. The makers of serious cinema seriously err in their belief that humor stains the purity of a serious message. You look forward to Aamir’s cinema because he uses humor, songs, pretty heroines- to make sure his serious cinema is taken seriously. 

 

 

The movie starts with the outside world of Ishaan, where no one seems to understand his problem and eventually takes the audience into Ishaan’s inside world. Once you are into his world, your ears can hear the silence on his lips and eyes can feel the pain in his tears. But you’re not sure how to help him. Yes, you have read it right - "help him" because now Ishaan’s journey is no more on screen. You are into the journey along with him and that’s why you start thinking for him, instead waiting to see what unfolds on screen.

 

Some people point out that almost all the characters (parents, teachers etc) are shown mean and harsh but then they had to be in this way if the child’s trauma had to be magnified and explained for the audience to sympathize with Ishaan’s character. Some complain that Ishaan did not have be a winner in the end for his parents to accept him. But what these people forget that the idea was not to present him as a winner but to bring out his talent for painting in front of the people around him. And his parents have always shown accepting him, specially his mom. In this world of cut throat competition, it is difficult for parents, to imagine/believe how their kids would be able to go places just on the basis of art. Then people say that it’s so unrealistic to see a teacher taking so much pain to educate a student as Aamir has done. But that’s the point Aamir is trying to make. He wants to make this a reality. Taare Zameen Par is a wake up call for all the parents, teachers and schools that make their own rules of success and intelligence and pressurize the children to perform on these lines. Also the stifling of creativity in the name of discipline is what our education system is known for. Therefore, the role of a teacher is well depicted as not just for the academics but also as a mentor who can change the life of a student.

 

TZP debates on the usefulness of formal teaching.  What use is the system of elite schools if all they are imparting is some kind of brand satisfaction and not education. That criteria itself cuts away to suit only the rich.  Or it could be ’elite’ in terms of marks.  So you see near impossible ’cut offs’ like 95%. The parents, hungry to see their children do well in school, push their children mercilessly for that additional mark.  At work, parents brag about the achievements of their children, or scream out their frustration when the child fails to get top scores. In such a scenario, where even normal students find it hard to meet the expectations of their parents woe betide the fate of the child who has a learning disorder. More so if the disorder is undetected and the child has to bear the label of a duffer. 

Aamir is always excellent. Just watch him in the scene where he explains Ishaan’s parents about Ishaan’s disablity  - his expressions, dialogue delievery, moist eyes bowls you out! Or when he subtly reprimands Ishaan’s father while giving the example of a tree in Solomon Island. Or his breaksdown at the climax. Awesome! Tisca Chopra gives a marvellos performance. But the film entirely belongs to Darsheel Safary. His acting is so effective that you fall in love without even realizing it. You get angry with his parents for not understanding him, empathise with him when he’s upset and swoop with joy seeing his childish pranks and when you get a glimpse into his beautiful mind. Darsheel brings out all the required emotions and has the power to bring tears to your eye. The repressed anger, the fear, the small joys and the yearning to belong. He manages all this without being melodramatic. He deserves the best actor awards this year. And I hope stars like SRK and Abhishek won’t mind this.

 

It is futile to think that we can change the competitive world, but take your kids to this film and change the way you look at them, understand them better, because in real life there is less probability of  a Ram Shankar Nikumbh coming and guiding our kids! And even teachers should watch this one and should not think of teaching as just a job!