Genre: Drama
Director: Aamir Khan
Cast: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra
Storyline: A dyslexic child gets a little direction from a caring Art teacher to tackle his difficulty.
Bottomline: Five stars for Taare, simply out of this world!
It doesn’t take more than the first 20 minutes of the film to establish that Aamir Khan has arrived as one of the finest filmmakers in mainstream Hindi cinema today.
At a fundamental level, there are at least three possible paths he could’ve chosen from right at the start.
1. This is a film he could’ve made for the Oscars. But he didn’t. Because making a films for awards and acclaim at the international level means keeping the focus on cinema than the issue itself. Clearly, Aamir made this because he believed it was a story that had to be told to as many people as possible.
2. This is a film he could’ve milked exploitatively for melodrama pretty much like Bhansali did with Black. But he didn’t. Because a dash of melodrama would create a larger-than-life disconnect with the issue rooted in the reality of a competitive, contemporary world. After all, Aamir is the guy who once asked Ashutosh how would his character Bhuvan (from Lagaan) have time or inclination to be clean-shaven in times of drought.
3. This is a film he could’ve made as an insightful social awareness documentary on dyslexia just like how Revathy made a touching Phir Milenge on AIDS awareness. But he didn’t. Maybe because when people go to watch an Aamir Khan film, they expect mischief, light-hearted fun, singing and dancing.
Aamir Khan’s filmmaking is calculatedly flawed because it is all-heart. While it is world-class in terms of sensibility, craft and performances (almost), it does feel the need to reach out, please and educate a mass. While it is sensitively nuanced and subtle (again, almost), it still feels the need to moist your eyes just a little to drill home its emotional depth and remind you of the power of cinema. And though painstakingly researched, it feels the need to simplify and entertain.
Very few filmmakers have had the conviction to make a film that balances aesthetics and art, social relevance and entertainment to bring about a change in the way we as a nation raise children in an extremely competitive standardised world. This is as close as any filmmaker in India has come to achieving perfect harmony between what a creator wants as someone who loves cinema, what people as an audience want from cinema and what the system needs from cinema. Imagine a three-circle Venn Diagram with the common subset area amounting to nearly 90 per cent of total area of the circles.
Ishaan (Darsheel) is the life of the film and we see the world through his eyes as we share his dreams, laugh at the mischief, feel the ache (try holding back your tears during the song his parents leave him at the boarding school) and snap out of it the very next moment, distracted like a child, thanks to Aamir’s flair for changing mood. The first half of the film is an emotional roller-coaster of a time-machine that instantly refreshes memories and takes you back to the days you cried in school. The pangs of home-work and the bliss of innocence.
Dyslexia apart, Ishaan has been part of our past… childhood has never seemed more real on screen, full credit to the filmmaker Aamir Khan and writer-creative director Amole Gupte. Especially, for showing us how differently Ishaan sees the world as he bunks school one day after not doing home-work: He does not see uniforms, he sees individuals making their lives out of their own hands, painting their future… that drop of paint falling on his cheek, accompanied to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music is a touch of genius.
Movies are where reality meets fantasy. So at the halfway point, enters radical Arts Teacher Ramshankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) to the rescue of our little hero, with the fairytale song and dance. Yes, he is too much of an angel when he goes out of his way to discuss the issue with the parents, who are representative of the average Indian middle-class with advice bordering on preachy but starting this dialogue with a diverse mass audience is the function of responsible mature cinema.
So even if it does seem out of the way for the father to come back to resume the discussion, you let it pass because the intent of the filmmaker is noble and in fact, remain impressed with the effective indirectness of the advice. In fact, these are the most crucial parts of the film, even if a little divergent from the core narrative (to the extent that this advice has no bearing on the outcome of Ishaan’s journey) simply because they are relevant and contemporary as social commentary.
The film though rich in sub-text as much as it is in colour, imagery and detail (researched and edited by Deepa Bhatia) for those with the eye, remains rather simplistic at its core as a story of a child with a problem getting the right kind of encouragement, love and support.
By far, Taare Zameen Par is the movie of the year. One that is likely to sweep awards for Darsheel, Aamir and team all around the world. It’s not just out of the box, Taare is simply out of this world.
well.. i aint a blogger, jus a regular reader of ur column in The Hindu..
firstly, loved the article on Aishwarya Rai & her diamonds. Think tat was the best one i read about the same event, thou it was covered in a lot of other publcations. Hats off to you.
Now for Taare Zameen par, I loved the movie myself, and came out from the cinema with mascara running all over my face. Its truely the film of the year.
Loved the Hail Hitler bit by Amir Khan in the staff romm, thou the song and dance entry was pushing it a little too much.
The small wonder of a boy needs special apreciation, n his teeth is so like mine when i was that age!!
well.. all in all, i could so relate to it all, n for the entire team of the film, my heartfelt regrds
mia
Whao! first time reading a review of this kind from u. The movie has to be really good then. hoping to catch it soon.
Hi,
Happened to read your review.Good one!!!An awesome film.A perfect balance between fantasy and reality and thank god Mr.Ram Shankar Nikumbh plays only the role of art teacher and not God as in usual hindi mawkish melodrama.A dream debut for Aamir.
Sarvesh
I was passed on a DivX version of this movie but after reading your review I think I’ll wait to catch it on DVD! A low quality print would not do justice, I think.
The review is really good..had heard that the movie is very good and that its touching and also does project the message well…..anyway after reading your review, i want to see it…
Hey Sudhish, this was a movie I very much wanted to love but didn’t completely in the end. To be specific, I started loving it uptil the first half and then ended up feeling increasingly cold through the second. I loved the music, acting, visuals, dialogues, the whole package until the dude in frayed jeans stepped in. Felt like the two halves were made by different people with different visions – the first half is like classic poetry, the second was the usual excessive preachiness and melodrama. I didn’t realize that I was being emotionally manipulated (which is nothing wrong by itself, since I think films are meant to be manipulative) until Aamir Khan’s teary eyed closeups shots. The kid is awesome. I love him.
Some pet peeves:
– Dyslexia is a disability and pretty removed from Down’s Syndrome, right? Why confuse issues by showing kids with Down’s in the song at the Tulip School?
– Shoudln’t the fact that Nikumbh suffered from dyslexia himself be good enought reason to be able to help Ishaan? Does working in a school for kids with Down’s syndrome (Tulip School) add to his expertise to handle dyslexic children? I think not, since dyslexia is ‘only’ a learning disability and quite different from Down’s. Is the whole Tulip School thing a ploy to jerk more tears with a soppy song?
– Isn’t dyslexia confined to written language and not math (as suggested by the fantasy sequence)? Where’s the flicking research by the movie makers that people are waxing eloquent about?
– Why the flick does Aamir Khan have to try so hard to be cool with his wardrobe? Just because he is an “alternate” teacher?
– Why so less of the kid in the second half? Isn’t he what the movie is about?
I felt the movie could have been more a commentary on free-thinking and non-conformance and less on harping about dyslexia itself.
ps: My wife and I were reminded of Spaceman Spiff from Calvin & Hobbes in the 3+9 fantasy.
ciao!
Amir Khan nicely lifted Calvin from the Comic strip and gave it so much of life. He ripped off the spaceman spiff episode completely!! and there’s not even acknowledgement of it in his movie!!!!!
Now….is that what we call professionalism?? That would easily go for NOTHING BUT plagiarism, in research circles!! Any comments??
I have been reading your comments mostly they are positive but some of you have been sidetracked I believe. As I read, though the movie was focused on a child with dyslexia, but the issue overall was on the attitude of our society towards the people with disabilities i.e. LDs ( Learning Disables) Slow Learners, Downs, or any one who does not fit in the normal look or behaviour. The looks they get or the treatment they receive from other children or parents. I was impressed with this movie as it is not as much for children, as for the adults, maybe teachers or parents. It is an eye opener for all of us, it is an education for us to get out of the box and see around. I don’t think those children are disabled but the adults are disabled who won’t to accept someone different.
Hats off to Ameer who has taken a big step to educate the common masses with problems faced by the children and their parents.
Good work Ameer Ji, you made all of us very emotional.
Shey
I live in California and have spent my entire adult life working with children and adults
with reading difficulties, especially dyslexics. I was unaware of this film until I rented the
DVD on Netflix in October of 2010. This wonderful film has affected me as no other
ever has. Not only is it the best film ever about dyslexia for a mass audience, it is a
beautiful sensitive entertainment, as well as an indictment of our constant striving for
academic goals, while ignoring many talents that so many children less scholastically
gifted possess. The songs were wonderful, particularly Maa, and the title song “Taare
Zameen Par”, and the climactic scene, accented with the beautiful score, was the
most moving film moment I have ever experienced. I have watched it over a dozen
times and find myself humming the score frequently. I am 71, and have seen about
2500 films in my life, many repeatedly, and this is my favorite ever, surpassing such
classics as “To Kill A Mockingbird” and “One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest”. Thank
you Aamir and Darsheel. You have truly opened my eyes to India cinema.