Curiously enough,
films on kids – as a genre, if you may –
have generally been a cut above the usual Bollywood
fare. Shekhar Kapur’s brilliant Masoom
(1983) and Mani Ratnam’s sensitive
Anjali come to mind immediately. Films
on kids are also, understandably, rare to come
by. Both points are also true for Aamir Khan films.
There was therefore considerable anticipation
and trepidation preceding the release of Taare
Zameen Par. As if this wasn’t enough,
the film also happened to mark Aamir’s debut
as a filmmaker – officially, at any rate.
The hype bordered on hyperbole.
Taare Zameen Par is Aamir’s heartwarming
and immensely sentimental paean to differently
abled children. It tells the story of Ishaan Avasthi,
an eight year old who is anything but “normal”
in this world of conventions, rules, and innocence
lost. He paints vivid strokes of life seen without
the prejudices and cynicism we are accustomed
to. He is fascinated by the magnificent creations
of Nature that other children – and indeed,
adults – have longed ceased to observe,
and prefers catching fish in his water bottle
or watching a bird feed its young ones over the
more mundane matters of understanding Maths or
learning English in school. Attributing his dismal
performance in third grade as an attitude problem,
Ishaan’s parents decide to put him in a
boarding school in the hope that it will “straighten
him out”.
 Unable
to find someone who can understand his language
instead of forcing him to learn theirs, the achingly
innocent Ishaan withdraws into a shell and appears
to cut himself off from the rest of the world.
Just when it seems that his fragile shoulders
cannot carry the burden of trying to “fit
in” anymore, there appears a sliver of hope
in the form of his new art teacher Ram Shankar
Nikumbh. Ram discovers that Ishaan is afflicted
with dyslexia and is in need of someone to reach
out to him. Having been dyslexic himself, Ram
is able to relate to Ishaan and sets about repairing
the damage done to him. Slowly but surely, he
convinces Ishaan of just how special he is. In
helping him overcome his insecurities, he shows
how patience, understanding, intelligence and
caring can triumph over ignorance and apathy to
make this world a better place, one child at a
time.
TZP scores on many grounds. At a script
and screenplay level, the film packs a huge emotional
wallop. Clearly a lot of thought and research
has gone in putting a script like this together,
and it shows. To writer and creative director
Amole Gupte goes the credit of writing a script
that has the depth and sincerity possible only
through years of experience in dealing with differently
able children. The dialogue is minimal but highly
effective, and aided – often substituted
– by several visual and animated sequences
that reflect the world as seen and understood
by an eight year old. Considering that he and
his wife have also done most of the art work in
the film– paintings and drawings that Ishaan
has done in the film – Amole has lent a
lot to the film, and definitely much more than
what a writer usually contributes. Without taking
anything away from the director, it is also Amole’s
vision that we see in Taare Zameen Par.
The plot may be criticized for being overly simple
at times, and it is criticism that is not necessarily
wrong. Certainly the second half lacks strong
pivot points that could take the story forward
and give it more depth. Aamir’s efforts
to heal Ishaan is more of an overarching theme,
and there is an absence of tension as we move
towards a fairly predicable ending. Still the
effort is commendable because it comes straight
from the heart, and at the end of it all, you
stand moved.
It is gratifying to see that at no point does
the film become self involved with itself. Writers
and filmmakers often tend to lose the plot when
dealing with serious issues like dyslexia. What
helps TZP’s cause is that it manages
– in an almost Hrishida like manner, albeit
with less subtlety - to balance the emotional
moments with lighter ones, as is wont in real
life. This without digressing from the main story.
Take the sequence when Aamir reveals to Ishaan’s
family that he is dyslexic. Without being preachy,
he shows them how they almost made a terrible
mistake in ignoring the reason why Ishaan couldn’t
behave normally. The scene is moving as it captures
the regret Ishaan’s mother goes through
in realizing what they have done to Ishaan It’s
beautifully matched by a following sequence where
Aamir tells Ishaan about his condition, and tells
him its ok to be this way because even he himself
has been this way once. There is a great deal
of sensibility and wit in handling the screenplay,
and it makes sure that the audience never loses
focus of the point of the film.
The songs of the film are a big plus. Shankaar
Ehsan Loy are pretty good with the title track
and score consistently with the music of the film.
But the star is definitely Prasoon Joshi. The
lyrics are of that kind; so magically simple to
hear, but incredibly complex if one were to attempt
to write them. He said in an interview that he
wrote the lyrics watching his son play and hoping
even he would be able to appreciate them, and
you know this is inspirational stuff. From the
tenderly worded Taare Zameen Par to the
naughty Bum Bum Bole to the wittily penned (and
shot) Jame Raho, Prasoon’s words are original,
refreshing, and lend to the mood of the film unfailingly.
He keeps the lines sparse and conversational,
and refrains from any verbose or OTT writing usually
so typical of songs in our films. His has been
an impressive run in the recent years with RDB
and Fanaah, and he goes from strength to strength
with this film. Great job!
 There
is no doubt that the film is what it is because
of its actors. Darsheel Safary as Ishaan Avasthi
is one of the most endearing kids we have seen
on screen. As the gifted but dyslexic child who
is misunderstood even by his own family, Darsheel
is absolutely convincing, playing his part with
spunk, humor, and a great deal of heart. He is
at his best when being a child who does things
what children do – play, bunk school, be
cheeky to the teachers, do things they are not
supposed to, and be scared of the parents when
they are caught. The brief dancing sequence while
standing outside his class is marvelous. While
he stumbles in the emotional scenes initially
(his frustration at being bullied by a kid in
his building is rather awkward), he is a scene-stealer
in the second half. Dialogue for him is at a minimum
– as it should for a depressed 8 year old
kid – and his silences and eyes offer tremendous
weight when reflecting his feelings and sorrow
to the audience. Aamir does a most un-filmy turn,
first appearing in the film moments before the
interval, and that too in a joker’s getup!
He certainly made the audience anticipate his
entry, and from their reaction, it worked. The
interaction between Darsheel and Aamir become
some of the most enjoyable moments on screen simply
because you’ve been waiting for it to happen!
While the reference to Robin Williams’ similarly
played role in Dead Poet’s Society is a
little too obvious in parts, Aamir’s is
a poignant performance, pouring tremendous sincerity
and feeling into every scene. His affection for
Ishaan in particular and children in general is
genuinely felt, and he handles Ram’s character
with a great deal of honesty. Even with such reduced
screen time, Aamir makes a huge impression with
a flawless performance in the film. It is amazing
how he manages to create the time and space needed
to establish the right emotional bond with Ishaan,
because you never seem to realize how close the
two are until the end. But when you see first
Ishaan’s portrait on his canvas, and then
Ishaan running to Aamir on being declared the
winner in the painting competition, the impact
is startling. As Ishaan reaches out to the one
man who has understood him and made him feel special,
you have to applaud the subtlety with which Aamir
has created his character. Tisca Chopra is the
perfect supporting cast as Ishaan’s mother,
and she plays the part with the poise and warmth.
It’s only the father’s role that strikes
a jarring note, being surprisingly caricatured
in contrast to the other characters in the story.
The other debutant in TZP - Darsheel
being the first – is Aamir Khan as the director
of the film. It is a confident and assured start
to what could be a fascinating filmography as
a filmmaker for Aamir. By choosing to make Taare
Zameen Par his first film, he has ensured
that we can look forward to his future films as
director with the same anticipation as his films
as actor. He shows considerable visual flair in
telling the story, and has perfect control of
the narrative all through to the end. There are
moments of repetition and the first half sometimes
tends to be meander a little. A more sparing usage
of slow-mos and possibly a little more subtlety
can also be argued for, but these are mere nitpickings
for a first time director. He hits the right notes
with the emotional high-points in the film, be
it the scene where Ishaan makes the “water-plane”
or the painting competition at the end of the
film. Given his deep understanding of what the
audience likes, his experience as a director will
only make Aamir a better filmmaker from here on
and there is no reason to expect anything less
than the best after Taare Zameen Par.
I suspect he wouldn’t have it any other
way.
Uncompromising and sincere, TZP is a
film of great integrity made by a team of people
who believe it can make a difference. Ishaan and
Ram ask us what gives us the right to count a
dyslexic child any lesser because they cannot
understand our world of letters and words, when
we wouldn’t be able to survive in their
world for a fraction of the time they have. TZP
questions our ulterior beliefs of what is right
and what is not based purely on our perception,
and forces us to look through the eyes of someone
else. Kudos!
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