Taare Zameen Par

Aamir Khan’s directorial debut Taare Zameen Par is an important film in the sense that it refers to the combative environment in which the present generation of children are being prepared to succeed. The film also takes issue with the declining tolerance forfailure amongst both the parents and society in general.

Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary), who is otherwise a bright child, repeatedly fails his school tests. His teachers believe that he is hopeless and his parents think he is undisciplined and obstinate. Ishaan himself is clueless. When his tentative attempts to describe his problems are met with ridicule and censure, he decides to hide behind lies and aggression. He decides it is better to be a rogue than a weak person. As you wonder, where he has learnt that from, you see his father fuming at the mere suggestion that his son could be dyslexic, a child with special needs.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world here and a child who cannot compete is doomed. Punishment is used with Pavlovian logic to make Ishaan fall in line. Parents perform their duty by sending him to that dreaded boarding school and the rest is taken care of by ‘chalk-shooting’, ‘knuckle-hitting’ teachers. Well, if nothing more, they have at least disciplined him! And what if his spirit is broken – well, what will he do with his spirit if he cannot pass exams? The only problem is that Ishaan still cannot pass exams.

Having built an excellent premise, it is here that the film somewhat falters: at about mid-way into the film, the art teacher, Ram Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) appears and with extra attention and affection ‘cures’ Ishaan Awasthi. Ishaan not only passes his exams but also wins the first prize in the painting competition that his art teacher organizes so obviously for his benefit. As the story reaches the climactic crescendo of applause, tears of happiness and family reunion, you need to ask just one question – what if Ishaan Awasthi was not a gifted painter? Acceptance from teachers, students and most importantly his parents comes noticeably only after he has ranked first, if not in academics then in painting. If the film is expecting all dyslexic children to become Einstein, Michelangelo, or even Abhishek Bachchan, these kids are facing worse pressure than the other ‘normal’ kids.

Taare Zameen Par, then, does not challenge the system that excludes individuals through arbitrary and insensitive elimination. Instead, it teaches a lesson to the boy who had thrown his results to the dogs – that results are important, that acceptance comes only after excellence. Nonetheless, what plays to Taare Zameen Par’s advantage is that the impact of the film becomes larger by way of associations that the audience makes. You do not need to have a history of dyslexia to relate to the immense pressure of parental expectations, or the grinding routine at school that threatened to kill all creative impulses, or that stay at the boarding school that felt like a punishment.

If you leave the screening in an evaluation-mode, you will also agree that Darsheel Safary deserves top marks for bringing out a gamut of emotions of a child without ever being loud. Tisca Chopra is good as the distraught, well-meaning mother. Vipin Sharma as the father starts off well but gets caricatured in the second half. In Aamir Khan, Taare Zameen Par has a director who is assured of his craft and he fares well. However, one character Khan gets wrong as the director is, ironically, his own. Ram Nikumbh is over-the-top with his intensely-knitted brows and brimming eyes every time he as much as glances at the dyslexic boy. Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics serve the narrative well. The animation sequences ingeniously portray a child’s imagination; however, the Calvin & Hobbes rip-off could have been avoided.

The review first appeared at
http://passionforcinema.com/author/padmaja/