Taare Zameen Par Film Review

[Elder Raman]

Arecipient of several accolades, Taare Zameen Par was India's official entry at the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Film, but was not nominated. At the 55th National Film Awards, it won 3 awards: Best Film on Family Welfare, Best Lyrics (Prasoon Joshi for "Maa") and Best Male Playback Singer (Shankar Mahadevan for "Maa"). At the 53rd Filmfare Awards, it received 11 nominations, including Best Actor (Safary), Best Supporting Actor (Aamir Khan) and Best Supporting Actress (Chopra), and won a leading 5 awards, including Best Film, Best Director (Aamir Khan) and Best Lyricist (Joshi for "Maa").

Ishaan is an 8-year-old boy living in Mumbai, who has trouble following school, though Ishaan is assumed by all to hate learning and assumed to be a troublemaker, and is belittled for it. Ishaan has repeated the 3rd standard from the previous year due to his failures. Ishaan's imagination, creativity, and talent for art and painting are often disregarded. Ishaan's father, Nandkishore Awasthi, is a successful executive who expects his sons to excel, and Ishaan's mother, Maya is a homemaker who is frustrated by her inability to educate Ishaan. Ishaan's elder brother, Yohaan is an exemplary student in whose shadow Ishaan remains. One day, Ishaan and his parents are called by Ishaan's School Principal to discuss his behavior and grades. Fed up of hearing about Ishaan's failures and lack of improvement, Nandkishore sends Ishaan to a boarding school. Alone there, Ishaan rapidly sinks into a state of fear, anxiety and depression, which is only worsened by the teachers there and their strict and abusive regime. Ishaan's only friend is Rajan Damodaran, a physically disabled boy who is one of the top students and resides with his family there, as his father is part of the school's board. Ishaan contemplates suicide one day, but is stopped when Ishaan hears Rajan fall down and Ishaan gets off the ledge to help him up. Rajan also informs Ishaan that Mr. Holkar, the Boarding School's Art Teacher, has left the school and he is being replaced by someone else.

Ram Shankar Nikumbh, a cheerful and optimistic instructor at the Tulips School for young children with developmental disabilities, joins the Boarding School's Temporary Art Teacher the same day, replacing Mr. Holkar, the Boarding School's Former Art Teacher. Ram's teaching style is markedly different from that of Holkar's, and Ram quickly notes Ishaan's unhappiness after Ishaan fails to draw anything during the class. Ram reviews Ishaan's work and concludes that his academic shortcomings are indicative of dyslexia. Ram then visits Ishaan's house in Mumbai, where Ram is surprised to discover Ishaan's hidden interest in art. Flustered, Ram demonstrates to Maya and Yohaan how Ishaan has extreme difficulty in understanding letters and words due to dyslexia and his poverty in sports skills stems from his poor motor ability (which also applies to his difficulty in tying shoelaces). Nandkishore labels it as an intellectual disability (as well as excuse) and dismisses it as laziness much to Ram's frustration.

Back at school, Ram brings up the topic of dyslexia in a class by offering a list of famous dyslexic people. Ram comforts Ishaan, telling him how he struggled as a child as well. Ram obtains the Principal's permission to become Ishaan's tutor. With gradual care, Ram works to improve Ishaan's reading and writing by using remedial techniques developed by dyslexia specialists. Eventually, both Ishaan's demeanor and Ishaan's grades improve. One day, Nandkishore visits the school and tells Ram that he and Maya have read up on dyslexia and understand the condition. Ram mentions that what Ishaan needs more than understanding is that someone loves him. Outside Nandkishore sees Ishaan attempting to read from a board. With teary eyes, Nandkishore is unable to face Ishaan and he walks away.

At the end of the school year, Ram organises an arts and crafts contest for the staff and students, judged by artist Lalita Lajmi. Ishaan's work makes him the winner and Ram, who paints Ishaan's portrait, is declared the runner-up. The principal announces that Ram has been hired as the Boarding School's Permanent Art Teacher. When Ishaan's parents meet Ishaan's Teachers on the last day of School, they are left speechless by the transformation in him. Overcome with emotion, Nandkishore thanks Ram. Before leaving, Ishaan runs toward Ram, who lifts him high up in a hug.

The husband and wife team of Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia developed the story that eventually became Taare Zameen Par as a way of understanding why some children could not conform to a conventional educational system. Their work began as a short story that evolved into a screenplay over seven years. Bhatia said in an interview with The Hindu that her original inspiration was the childhood of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who did poorly in school. She cited a specific place in Kurosawa's biography where he began to excel after meeting an attentive art teacher, and said that it "became the inspiration for how a teacher could transform the life of a student".[5]

While developing the character of a young boy based on Kurosawa, Bhatia and Gupte explored some possible reasons why he failed in school. Their research led them to the Maharashtra Dyslexia Association and Parents for a Better Curriculum for the Child (PACE). Dyslexia eventually became the central topic and theme of the film. The pair worked with dyslexic children to research and develop the screenplay, basing characters and situations on their observations. Bhatia and Gupte carefully concealed the children's identities in the final version of the script.[5]

"While Amole has written what I think is a brilliant and moving script, his contribution towards the film is not limited to that of a writer. The entire pre-production was done by him including the most important task of creating the music ... he has been present on set throughout the shooting as the Creative Director, and has been a big support and strong guiding force in my debut as a director. I thank him for that, and more so for having the faith in me by entrusting to me something that is so close to him."

Initially, the film was to retain the short story's title of "High Jump", which referenced Ishaan's inability to achieve the high jump in gym class. This subplot, which was filmed but later cut, would have tied into the original ending for the movie. In this planned ending, a "ghost image" separates from Ishaan after the art competition and runs to the sports field; the film would end on a freeze frame of Ishaan's "ghost image" successfully making the leap. Aamir Khan disliked this proposed ending and convinced Gupte to rewrite it.

With the working title no longer relevant,[16] Khan, Gupte, and Bhatia discussed several alternatives,[17] eventually deciding on Taare Zameen Par. Possible translations of this title include Stars on the Ground[18] and Like Stars on Earth.[19] According to Khan:

Taare Zameen Par is a film about children and it is a film which celebrates the abilities of children. Taare Zameen Par is a title which denotes that aspect. It is a title with a very positive feel to it. All the kids are special and wonderful. They are like stars on earth. This particular aspect gave birth to the title.[17]

Principal photography took place in India over five months.[20] Khan spent his first two days as director blocking the first scene to be filmed: Ishaan returning home from school and putting away his recently collected fish.[21] Believing the audience should not be aware of the camera, he chose a simple shooting style that involved relatively little camera movement.[22]

All the school sequences were filmed on location. The production team searched for a Mumbai school with an "oppressive" feel to establish the "heaviness of being in a metropolitan school",[26] and eventually chose St. Xavier's School.[27] As the school is situated along a main road filming took place on weekends, to minimise the background noise, but an early scene in which Ishaan is sent out of the classroom was filmed on the day of the Mumbai Marathon. The production staff placed acrylic sheets invisible to the naked eye on the classroom windows to mask the sounds of nearby crowds and helicopters.[28] New Era High School served as Ishaan's boarding school. The change of setting was a "breath of fresh air" for the production crew, who moved from Ishaan's small house in Mysore Colony, Chembur to the "vast, beautiful environs" of Panchgani.[29]

Production relied on stock footage for the brief scene of a bird feeding its babies. Khan carefully selected a clip to his liking, but learned three weeks before the film's release that the footage was not available in the proper format. With three days to replace it or else risk delaying the release, Khan made do with what he could find. He says that he "cringes" every time he sees it.[30]

Real schoolchildren participated throughout the movie's filming. Khan credited them with the film's success, and was reportedly very popular with them.[15] Furthermore, Khan placed a high priority on the day-to-day needs of his child actors, and went to great lengths to attend to them.[17] The production staff made sure that the students were never idle, and always kept them occupied outside of filming.[31] New Era Faculty Coordinator Douglas Lee thought the experience not only helped the children to learn patience and co-operation, but also gave them a better understanding of how they should behave towards children like Ishaan who have problems in school.[32] Because filming at New Era High School occurred during the winter holiday, those portraying Ishaan's classmates gave up their vacation to participate.[33] To fill in the campus background, students from nearby schools were also brought in.[34] A total of 1,500 children were used for wide-shots of the film's art-fair climax; medium shots only required 400 students.[35]

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