Taare Zameen par. Review on Taare Zameen Par

I normally avoid children’s movies. The last one I saw was Majidi’s little Iranian classic “Children of Heaven”(Bacheha-Ye aseman (1997)). Actually I am scared of children even in real life. I hate those devilish kids in American movies. They are too smart for their age. At the same time Bollywood  kids are normally too dumb for their age.

Coming to Taare Zameen Par, given the mostly positive reviews and initial success, I decided to watch it. It has also recently stormed into the imdb top 250 though I am not sure till how long it’ll survive out there.

Anyways, I started watching it with great expectations and was pleasantly surprised by the opening sequences and casting. With clever use of animation and music, it had the same flavour as those Jean Pierre Jaunet movies. Then the story progresses smoothly, i.e. it successfully portrays the rough terrain that a dyslexic kid has to traverse. Coming to the plot, though I think everyone is very well aware of it by now, I will finish it in one line.

The Kid with some kind of learning disability, who is not understood by anyone, is sent to a boarding school where he was finally discovered and rescued by a new arts teacher.

So what makes the movie watchable? The biggest thing is, it doesn’t go preaching indefinitely. Barring a couple of dialogues by Amir, it simply keeps showing what’s happening to the kid through carefully crafted plots and

doesn’t bore people with long speeches. The most heartening aspects are the (day)dreaming sequences by the kid which are so close to reality that they reminded me of my childhood memories. Perhaps this film has

made the most effective use of animations in Indian movies so far. The paintings used in the film also deserve appreciation. The performances are first rate. Darsheel Safary in the lead role has done a tremendous job and I am sure a bunch of awards are awaiting him this year. Amir as the teacher and Tisca Chopra as the mother have also done adequate jobs. The father and the other teachers look irritating, but that’s what they are meant to look like. All other child actors have also done well. But in the end I feel that it is completely a director’s cinema. Amir khan has finally made his directorial debut and hit the jackpot rightaway. This is the reason why I admire him, he is the only Bollywood star who has gone offbeat and has been successful.

Other stars have also tried doing so but have failed in most of the occasions. But credit must also be given Amol Gupte who has done all the writing. I believe it was his original idea.

So just to wrap up, it is a very honest and simplistic film about a problematic kid which succeeds in striking a chord with the adults also. Perhaps it will help contain certain over ambitious parents from ruining their children’s lives. The only thing I was not too happy about was the length of the film (2 hrs 36 mins) which could have been

half an hour shorter. A few songs could have been chopped off, though the title song is very well made with great https://lyrics. At a shorter duration the impact would have been more intense. Nevertheless, it is a

movie worth watching, whether you are a child or an adult. It is not emotional blackmailing like “black”. It is effortless and hence enjoyable cinema.