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23 December 2007
Taare Zameen Par - Plutoed Childhood
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My rating: 9/10
There was once a 'planet' called Pluto. One fine day, a group of astronomers decided that it did not meet their criteria of a planet. Suddenly, poor Pluto found its status downgraded to that of a poor cousin. It became a dwarf planet - a 'dwarf' that paled in comparison with its eight other cousins who passed the test with flying colours.
In Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par, nine year old Ishaan, through his fantastic imagination and above-average intelligence, finds the answer to a simple math problem in Pluto's story (brilliant conceptualization by writer Amole Gupte). While the 'cracking' of the problem gives him an extreme sense of achievement, little does he understand that he shares the same predicament - he is also being Plutoed by his family and teachers because he cannot live up to the exacting standards of normalcy defined by them. He is 'dwarfed' by his super-achiever brother.
Taare Zameen Par is a heart-warming tale of a young boy who is constantly labeled as an idiot or duffer (no reference to the dwarfish creatures from the land of Narnia, but that fits in quite well too) because he simply isn't like other children. While other children study hard and excel in their exams, he finds refuge in his extremely fertile imagination, which manifests itself in his ability to find beauty in places where most 'normal' people would find none. This is established right at the start of the film where a dirty water drain, when seen through Ishaan's eyes, takes the splendorous form of an aquarium - he sees fish where most people would see garbage.
To his teachers and parents Ishaan is an undisciplined brat who is just too lazy to study. After all, he's audacious enough to mouth gibberish when asked by his teacher to read a sentence from his book, he shows no remorse at being punished time and again, and, horror of horrors, he bunks school to avoid studies and then cajoles his Mr. Perfect brother to forge their mother's signature in the Absence Note. What no one realizes is that the real problem lies somewhere else. He does all those things because he has a genuine problem. He isn't cracking a joke when he says that the 'letters are dancing'. He has a real learning disability. He is dyslexic.
Actually, Taare Zameen Par is as much about dyslexia as No Smoking was about smoking. Dyslexia is no doubt a very important plot element in the film, but the point the film tries to make goes much beyond that. It's a lesson for parents who put the 'burden of their ambition' on the weak shoulders of their children, and for whom the definition of achievement is so narrow that they don't even realize that in asking their children to internalize their definition they're strangulating the creative minds that lie within those overburdened heads.
With Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan makes a fantastic debut as a director. He recognizes the demands of Amole Gupte's amazing script (one of the best scripts of 2007) and chooses a leisurely style of narration that gives ample time to the audience to get completely engrossed in Ishaan's world, and feel his trauma and helplessness. His penchant for evocative visuals is amply evident all through the film. Though he does get carried away with some of the visuals and special effects, he strikes the right chord most of the time. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's thematically prefect music and Prasoon Joshi's lyrics (replete with Gulzar-esque abstractions) go a long way in complementing the director’s vision.
The real star of Taare Zameen Par, however, is Darsheel Safary. His portrayal of Ishaan is so realistic that it is hard to imagine he’s just acting. His mobile face is a bounteous repository of expressions - he doesn’t really have to speak to convey Ishaan's emotions.
Emotionally, the film is such an overwhelming experience that anyone who claims to have stayed dry-eyed all through the film is lying! One gets so emotionally involved in the film that it doesn’t matter that some parts of the film acquire a sanctimonious character with some heavy duty preaching and sermonizing by Aamir's character; it doesn't jar that all peripheral characters (with the notable exception of the mother) are nothing more than caricatures; it doesn't seem discordant that the school would teach heavy duty Hindi like 'nadi ka pratibimb' to third standard students; it isn't bothersome to see Aamir the star overshadow Aamir the phenomenal actor in parts of the film; and you certainly don't mind the manipulative nature of some of the sequences - especially the 'Maa' song - that are 'designed' to tug at the heartstrings. You’re on a high, too busy celebrating the possibility of Pluto being a planet again!
21:25 Posted in Film | Permalink | Comments (13) | Email this
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Comments
Hey...very well written...it actually carried me out of the office for a moment!!!...n yeah m really busy now celebrating the possibility of Pluto being a planet, even b'fore seeing d movie!!!
Posted by: Sudhanshu | 24 December 2007
'maa' song is NOT manipulative, pluto iz now just a no. 134340
Posted by: Salman | 02 January 2008
That heavy duty Hindi poem being taught in Class 3---that was totally wierd.It was at the least a class 5 orCl 6 poem. But where did you get Aamir the star overshadowing actor Aamir? To me Aamir seemed fine, like in all his films where his starry self rarely takes over the character.
Posted by: Lalita.S | 09 January 2008
Lalita: I thought that the Bam Bam Bole song was clearly Aamir the star; the hair style and the designer jacket and mannerisms in the climax was again Aamir the star. In many places, the body language was also Aamir the star.
Posted by: Aditya Pant | 09 January 2008
In spite of being such a big fan of Aamir's I always thought he isn't so much of a 'Star' as much as he is an actor. Star is a word more applicable to SRK I thought.
Posted by: Sanjukta | 11 January 2008
Aditya,
Hi
Highly appreciated your comments on my rip off post, sorry for the delay in response. You know I honestly don’t want to disrespect anybody, tried to make that clear in the first para but alas…guess it’s my writing…most of what I write is fierce.. and yes there is a little bit of lawyer in me ;-)
I totally understand that an opinion is an opinion, period. It doesn’t have to cater to any other needs…just some how can’t shrug of the fear that reading an honorable critc’s review one might be (may be 1 in 100 but still) dissuaded from going for a great film.
My intention is not to belittle the reviewer believe me :-)
Thanks so much for ur visit to my blog.
Posted by: Sanjukta | 11 January 2008
Sanjukta: Let's put it this way, SRK is 90% star and 10% actor, Aamir is probably 20% star and 80% actor. I felt that that 20% showed in parts of TZP, which is usually not true for Aamir (even in something as trite as Fanaa)
Posted by: Aditya Pant | 11 January 2008
This imovie is realtiy if nothing else.. it has a message to show to the parents that kids with this kind of symptoms need more care than ever a special treatment not only at school also at home..My sis also have the same symptoms and i'm proud to say that she is more sensible than i am in the best way..U can't compare Aamir khan to anyone..if anyone would read a om shanti om or main hoon na script I doubt he would appear even as a supporting actor..his movies are have a diff and real subject..kudos and make spce for the director aamir khan coz this might be just the beginning for him.
Posted by: wasma | 12 January 2008
I don't share the hype that this film has generated. It is a good enough film, but it is more of an "andhon mein kanaa raja" types.
The first half is wonderfully paced, so I quite liked it. The second half was quite bad...with the dialogues spouting from Amir's mouth hitting you on the head. Whatever happened to subtlety? Given the important and serious nature of the central theme of this film, I am willing to forgive this "forcing down your throat" that the second half resorts to....
The end of the film really left me baffled! The entire dialogue saying "parents should raise race horses..." belies the end which does treat this a race. So is the film saying "it is fine not to pursue medicine and science as long as you come first in art"? Was winning that competition so important for the kid?
I absolutely HATED the manipulative and derivative filming of the "taare zameed pe" song with Amir parading all the physically and otherwise challeged kids and showing tears in his eyes. And that young kid cleaning tables was the absolute limit to pandering!
Where were the parents in the second half. The father was a caricature from the start, and all he was made to do was to listen to Amir's sermons in the second half. And where the hell did the mother disappear in the entire second half of the film?
There are many more problems I had in the second half....but lets leave that for now.
Overall, I still liked it ... but don't understand the hype. Something like Manorama SFU, in my opinion, was a better film
Cheers
Posted by: Anil | 24 January 2008
Anil, I agree with all the points you mentioned. You could say I like being emotionally manipulated :). So despite the flaws, this film worked for me.
Posted by: Aditya Pant | 24 January 2008
well in the film they did not say tht they should pursue art, but as an example showing tht the parents were being rude to him because he wasn't good at studies for child like ishaan but they did not see the good side of him tht is art and actually most of the people with dislexic are good at art not only painting and dancing but anything realted to art because tht were they can express themselves better and I knwo all these stuff coz I have a sister who is dislexic and i'm proud to say she is more sensible than me as an example when my father comes home frome work she will come running to him and take off his shoes and give him towel to wipe his sweat.
Posted by: Wasama | 30 January 2008
aditya pant u misinterpreted the bam bam bole song
the bam bam bole song is amole guptes tribute to his sir who himself used to connect to children via music and performing
even i mistook it for aamir give himself some star quotient
Posted by: vivek | 03 February 2008
Vivek: I did not misinterpret the bam bam bole song. I have no objection to the song being there. My point is that the choreography of the song is done to highlight Aamir the star. A more unstructured choreography (something akin to Sajna Main Vari Vari in Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.) might have been a better tribute to Amole Gupte's teacher.
Posted by: Aditya Pant | 03 February 2008
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