Taare Zameen Par - A Review

If I say the movie was spectacular, well, it would not be very different from any other reviews. But, do I have a choice! Over a period of time we have come to identify a genre "classic Aamir Khan"; He has played the Producer, Director and Actor with aplomb. He has done it again!

A brief outline. The story is about Ishaan Awasthy, a 9 year old boy, who is outrageously bad at studies. Things are worse when contrasted against his elder brother who is an achiever in academics and sports alike. Ishaan's father, thinks this is a childhood idiosyncrasy that has only one solution - Boarding School. Boarding school has, but, an adverse effect on Ishaan. Unable to cope up he withdraws into a shell. Things look really bleak. Here steps in Ram Shankar Nikumbh, as an art teacher who teaches at a school for differently-abled children and has been hired temporarily. He has non-pedagogic style of teaching and invariably notices Ishaan's strange behavior. It doesn't take time for Ram to realise that Ishaan is suffering from dyslexia. That what is being passed off Ishaan's kiddish obduracy is actually a medical problem. Rest of the story deals with Ishaan's fight with the disease.

After college there have been very few times when a movie has moved me so much. Taare Zameen Par is one such time. One reason could be that I, for that matter most of the people of my age, can relate to Ishaan's predicament - not necessarily by suffering with dyslexia but by being burdened with parents' expectations.

None of us have to look far to see that, nowadays, anything less than 95% is considered a crime. I see kids on standard I or II carrying bags which weigh as much as them - if not more. I see parents unhappy with their kids because they are not as smart as the neighbour's kids. I vividly remember the time I dropped a year after XII so that I could 'prepare' for IIT. That did not materialise and here I am, happier, if I dare to say.

The way children are being characterised as "special" and normal - the same way normal children are being put into "Engg/Medical" and "Hopeless" buckets. Any sports that you play, must be to win trophies and not for recreation. In such a place, what is the place of a dyslexic child. Even parents seem to find it hard to spare time for the lagging child, what to say of the outside world.

Many a times, the parents having such high expectations from their kids are themselves and educated but do not realise the importance of proper all round development and the need to allow the kid to choose his path. Or may be they realise but do not have the guts to face the outside world and its rigid benchmarks. Kudos and thanks to Aamir for selecting a pressing topic like this one.