TAARE ZAMEEN PAR
NAHIN SCREEN PAR!!
By Vishal Verma

Rating:

He highlighted the triumph of the human spirit and self belief in ‘Lagaan’ and now he takes a small leap which could be a gigantic step in Bollywood cinema. Aamir in his new avatar as a storyteller does the impeccable. And how! He makes a sensitive film about the plight and psyche of a child ( Darsheel Safary – boy wonder) suffering from dyslexia, how he overcomes the defect and gets transformed by a temporary teacher ( Aamir Khan – top notch), whose influence remains permanent on the child and his overambitious parents ( Tisca Chopra - very good, Vipin Sharma – above average) of the modern day world, who believe academics are the only major yardstick to survive in this world of palmtops, slick wheels and designer phones and doesn’t pay any heed to the child’s inborn talent.

Vow! How can you do that? Entertain, ask questions and also provide message in that 18 reels? Aamir does that in ‘ Taare Zameen Par’.

‘Taare Zameen Par’ is certainly the answer for those questions about sensibility in the mainstream format of bollywood cinema.

This movie works at both levels, its niche as well as nice. A rare achievement for any filmmaker to please both the masses as well as the classes. Well done Aamir !

The factors which make this feat possible are:

1. The child wonder -  Darsheel Safary, ‘Taare Zameen Par’ will be remembered as his film. When anybody will talk about the film, this bundle of talent will be the first to come in the picture.

2. Aamir Khan as a storyteller - he successfully makes the child deliver an outstanding performance. The other thing which deserves special mention is that the star – Aamir, who is top notch in this too, keeps himself away from the camera for almost half the reels and allows the main protagonist Darsheel to carry the film on his shoulders. He remarkably establishes the child psyche to the audience with some brilliant animation. The audience cries when the kid cries and smiles at the kid’s antiques and childish behavior. The mothers love and concern, brother's soft corner and father's demanding nature, relates directly to the viewers and gives a feeling that it could be them, their family. The idea of parents throwing their ambition on the tiny shoulders of their children neglecting the immense inborn talent which can later on make an impact in this world, is brilliantly executed.

3. Shankar’s Eshaan Loy’s music is in perfect sync with the film and Prasoon Joshi has written some great lines like “ Tu dhoop hai jam ke bikhar’ and some more gems.

4. This movie can moisten any stone hearted human being’s eyes. Incidents like the child’s refusal to go to the boarding school, Aamir’s visit to the child’s house, the mother’s gentle touch when she visits her child in the boarding school and the child’s silence which speaks more than a thousand words.

5. There is this gem of a scene when Aamir tries to motivate Darsheel by citing examples of legends like Da Vinci, Einstein, who had the same dyslexia problem in their childhood.

6. It is difficult to say who is better, Aamir the Actor, or Aamir the Storyteller, or Aamir the Producer, who had the guts to make such a sensitive and yet an entertaining film. He could have easily basked on the success of ‘Rang De Basanti’ and directed himself in any mediocre mainstream potboiler but….

If you miss this movie, then be ready for a severe punishment in your own school.

Note: The format is changed because even after sipping a couple of mugs of coffee and puffing a few cigarettes, I am unable to find any major flaw in this movie. It only has one minor flaw that is its length in the second half but that doesn’t really matter in the final outcome. So I decided to let it flow as it goes!