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Return to innocence -- Taare Zameen Par
Perfect Chemistry: Taare Zameen Par.
It doesn’t take more than the first 20 minutes to establish that Aamir Khan has arrived as one of the finest filmmakers in mainstream Hindi cinema today. He could’ve made this for the Oscars. But he didn’t. This is a film he could&#
8217;ve milked exploitatively for melodrama pretty much like Bhansali did with ‘Black.’ But he didn’t. It’s a film he could’ve made as an insightful social awareness film on dyslexia just like how Revathy made a touching ‘Phir Milenge’ on AIDS awareness. But he didn’t. The filmmaking here 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. Though painstakingly researched, it feels the need to simplify and entertain.
Very few filmmakers have had the conviction to make a film that balances art, social relevance and entertainment to bring about a change in the way we as a nation raise children in an extremely competitive, standardised, mechanical world. 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.
Touch of genius
Dyslexia apart, Ishaan has been part of our past… childhood has never seemed more real on screen, full credit to Aamir and Amole. 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 routine. 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. His advice borders on being preachy. Even if divergent from the core narrative these scenes are crucial because they are relevant as a 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.
It’s not just out of the box, ‘Taare…’ is simply out of this world.
Taare Zameen Par
Genre Drama
Director Aamir Khan-Amole Gupte
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
SUDHISH KAMATH
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
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