I am back.. :) After a long time ....
As always, this review is meant to speak about the film which I think is a good view.. and hope to give an extra push to my friends who want to see a good film. This film has been released long time and most people would have seen it... This review is for those people who are still skeptical of the film and wonder if 'Taare Zameen Par' is a good film or not.... Well, indeed 'Taare Zameen Par' is not a good film. I would not call it a good film. No ..Not at all.. Its just one of those amazingly, outstandingly delicately made heart-touching masterpiece. So you see, sometimes 'Good' is just not good enough.
Aamir Khan has proved why he is considered a perfectionist.. aur perfection ko improve karna muskhil hota hai..Taare Zameen Par is easily the finest film of 2007..
So what makes this film great. Lets start with the casting... This film, just like 'Life in a Metro', the script is the king. Aamir has chosen actors who can act. Even if they are not so well-known.. these people played their part.. and played their part brilliantly.. Be it the bus-conductor who picks up our central character 'Ishaan' from school or the children who are the school-mates of our central character.
As always, this review is meant to speak about the film which I think is a good view.. and hope to give an extra push to my friends who want to see a good film. This film has been released long time and most people would have seen it... This review is for those people who are still skeptical of the film and wonder if 'Taare Zameen Par' is a good film or not.... Well, indeed 'Taare Zameen Par' is not a good film. I would not call it a good film. No ..Not at all.. Its just one of those amazingly, outstandingly delicately made heart-touching masterpiece. So you see, sometimes 'Good' is just not good enough.
Aamir Khan has proved why he is considered a perfectionist.. aur perfection ko improve karna muskhil hota hai..Taare Zameen Par is easily the finest film of 2007..
So what makes this film great. Lets start with the casting... This film, just like 'Life in a Metro', the script is the king. Aamir has chosen actors who can act. Even if they are not so well-known.. these people played their part.. and played their part brilliantly.. Be it the bus-conductor who picks up our central character 'Ishaan' from school or the children who are the school-mates of our central character.
Our central character, Ishaan is played by Darsheel Safary... and he is amazing. Aamir Khan has gone so far as quoting, that Darsheel is one of the finest actors he has worked with.. One might think Aamir would say this for the publicity of his film and so that people come and see the film. But when you would see the film, you would realize how right Aamir is.
Vipin Sharma and Tisca Chopra play Ishaan's parents. Tisca chopra as usual does a great job. This good-looking lady is as natural as always. Might even remind you of the great Nutan...and then we have the master himself..Aamir is at his natural best.. The casting is great. Its said that once you get the casting right, you are set to make a good film.The story's main character is a boy who is a bit different from other kids. When I say, different.. he is not mentally or physically challenged in anyway.. He is different in the way he thinks.. he is
different in the pace he lives his life.. He is not the normal 'you are to be amongst the best - free seat getter in engineering/medical - I am cool' type of Bombay kid. This story is how his different way of seeing and living life is seen to be irritating to the 'normal', 'disciplined', robotic, the runners of the rat-race, of our society.. How scared his parents are, seeing their 'different' child and worrying how would he cope with the other kids and the competitive world. Ishaan has problem coping with his studies and when the parents see matter going from bad to worse and Ishaan fails to come on track with the normal world, they send him to boarding school.... Here ishaan has the same difficulties... but from somewhere help arrives and our kid blossoms.. The rich colors of life which were hidden inside, shows itself... The hidden lava of talent which was dormant was so long erupts out of that suppressed volcano..Thus showing and delivering the message that 'Every child is special'.
different in the pace he lives his life.. He is not the normal 'you are to be amongst the best - free seat getter in engineering/medical - I am cool' type of Bombay kid. This story is how his different way of seeing and living life is seen to be irritating to the 'normal', 'disciplined', robotic, the runners of the rat-race, of our society.. How scared his parents are, seeing their 'different' child and worrying how would he cope with the other kids and the competitive world. Ishaan has problem coping with his studies and when the parents see matter going from bad to worse and Ishaan fails to come on track with the normal world, they send him to boarding school.... Here ishaan has the same difficulties... but from somewhere help arrives and our kid blossoms.. The rich colors of life which were hidden inside, shows itself... The hidden lava of talent which was dormant was so long erupts out of that suppressed volcano..Thus showing and delivering the message that 'Every child is special'. 
Each one may not necessarily do the all the things everyone else can do.. but he/she can certainly do one thing which is special. Some learn fast.. some slow.. It require our patience, time and energy to bring out the speciality in our kids.. Each and every child has something which distinguishes from others... Sachin Tendulkar never went to college.. but at the age of 9 he could bat as no one his age could..The amount of detailing done in this film is great.. The mannerism of the child, the pattern of thought.. how he reacts to situations..
for eg..
- when Ishaan returns from school... the building gates; one is open the other closed. Ishaan playfully rides on the closed door and swings it open... a small thing but thats the way a 9 year old would chose to do. He would play with anything he sees and make anything into his toy.
- Entering the building, he sees the dogs and immediately calls them and plays with them for some time before going up to his house.. Now is he tired and returning from school.. But the mindset of the child is always.. "Oh Today's school is over' so he is going to have fun as much as possible before going to school again tomorrow..
- When he is asked about the report card by his mom, he ignore her. :) because he has not go good marks in his exams.. typical kid attitude. :).
- Ishaan goes down to play, here you would hear the boys speak when they are playing.. now as this film is based in Mumbai you would not hear the shudh-hindi.. you would hear boys say.. "Aye jana ball leke aa.. samazta nahi kya?" instead of "tujhe samjh main nahi ata hai kya?" .. A typical Bombay kid speak a different dialect of hindi as you would find in the northern part and the same has been considered here...and it was certainly a refresh of old memories.. :) I hope it would be for you too.
- The language has mixture of English and Hindi as we would use in everyday usage..but in one instance, when Aamir talks with the Principal of his school. He says "Gyan to gyan hai.. chahe likhit ho ya padhith".. Now thats not everyday usage..but this is a well-known phrase and easily caught on by a person who already has heard and recited the phrase a no. of times.i.e a fellow teacher. So when Aamir says the sentence to the principal he is more likely to catch to that sentence and understand.. Now that is detailing.. Using "knowledge is knowledge" to substitute that sentence would not have been that effective..
- Ishaan fights with a kids and come back home with bruises. The fellow he had a fight with has
complained to Ishaan's parents.. Ishaan's father is angry and starts to scold Ishaan and leaves in disgust.. Ishaan's mom however is busy searching for the number of bruises Ishaan has on his body… A typical Indian family.. The father who has always an eye on the pride, behaviour and conduct of his family and the mother who only concerned with the well-being of her family. The reaction of the two parents are in complete contrast and well depicted.
Well, :) I am not saying that father's are not concerned about the well-being of the family as such.. but the scene shows a typical reaction of the two parents.
- When in the last scene, Ishaan is leaving for home.. Aamir, a teacher, who always speaks the correct Hindi with his students, say to him "jaldi aneka ha? holidays ke baad".. Now thats Bombaiya hindi... "aneka ha".. By speaking thus, he is trying to communicate with Ishaan as any Bombaite would. We know that kids love when communicated with them as their friends or equals...Thats great detailing...easily to just slip by..but just shows how well Aamir understands the mood, tone and the characters in his film.
In some of the instances, Aamir shows the life of the people on the lower end of the society, in Bombay.. How ishaan on his day out sees all this and observes..
The film also takes a look at the children who has mentally challenged but still do stuff which bring smile, laughter and joy to the hearts and faces of their parents and guardians. These challenged kids are helped by kind souls who dedicate their time, energy, effort and patience to make them capable enough to enter the mainstream. Here you realise how important these challeged kids are to their parents.. Just in one scene of the film Aamir is able to show you the feelings between these kids and their parents.... The effort of the kids to show their parents how worthy they are... and the proud tears and smiles on the faces of their parents which says aloud - "I am so proud of you, my beautiful child"............ Just amazing stuff....All of this done in a very touching way..
The story narration, direction is excellent.. The songs are great... Not that the songs will be played in the discos or even in the ganapati visargans.. but the lyrics of the songs are so very meaningful and touching.. you will have to feel the songs, instead of just listening.. Prashoon joshi has done a great job with the words and Shankar Eshaan Loy has provided able support for the tunes..particularly the song "Tujhe sab hai pata... meri maa" is heart-piercing...
A movie which has kids as the important characters, is always difficult to make.. He heard that from Mani ratnam who made Anjali, we heard it from Shekhar Kapur who made Mr. India... and Taare Zameen Par should be no different... Aamir Khan has done a very difficult job of acting, producing and directing a movie ... which has kids .. at the same time extracting great performance from all involved and .............at the same time doing NOTHING to glorify himself in his movie. Now this is what makes the Amitabhs, the Aamirs and the Hritiks, a class apart....Because they place their work above their personal glorification..
Indeed a heart-touching masterpiece from a person who understands people, who understands cinema, who makes film because it is his passion rather that for glorifying himself.if you have not seen it already, I would certainly recommend it.. Its not the tear-jerker film which you would want to miss..
It is a tear-jerking film which will touch you and make you think differently...
for eg..
- when Ishaan returns from school... the building gates; one is open the other closed. Ishaan playfully rides on the closed door and swings it open... a small thing but thats the way a 9 year old would chose to do. He would play with anything he sees and make anything into his toy.
- Entering the building, he sees the dogs and immediately calls them and plays with them for some time before going up to his house.. Now is he tired and returning from school.. But the mindset of the child is always.. "Oh Today's school is over' so he is going to have fun as much as possible before going to school again tomorrow..
- When he is asked about the report card by his mom, he ignore her. :) because he has not go good marks in his exams.. typical kid attitude. :).
- Ishaan goes down to play, here you would hear the boys speak when they are playing.. now as this film is based in Mumbai you would not hear the shudh-hindi.. you would hear boys say.. "Aye jana ball leke aa.. samazta nahi kya?" instead of "tujhe samjh main nahi ata hai kya?" .. A typical Bombay kid speak a different dialect of hindi as you would find in the northern part and the same has been considered here...and it was certainly a refresh of old memories.. :) I hope it would be for you too.
- The language has mixture of English and Hindi as we would use in everyday usage..but in one instance, when Aamir talks with the Principal of his school. He says "Gyan to gyan hai.. chahe likhit ho ya padhith".. Now thats not everyday usage..but this is a well-known phrase and easily caught on by a person who already has heard and recited the phrase a no. of times.i.e a fellow teacher. So when Aamir says the sentence to the principal he is more likely to catch to that sentence and understand.. Now that is detailing.. Using "knowledge is knowledge" to substitute that sentence would not have been that effective..
- Ishaan fights with a kids and come back home with bruises. The fellow he had a fight with has
complained to Ishaan's parents.. Ishaan's father is angry and starts to scold Ishaan and leaves in disgust.. Ishaan's mom however is busy searching for the number of bruises Ishaan has on his body… A typical Indian family.. The father who has always an eye on the pride, behaviour and conduct of his family and the mother who only concerned with the well-being of her family. The reaction of the two parents are in complete contrast and well depicted.Well, :) I am not saying that father's are not concerned about the well-being of the family as such.. but the scene shows a typical reaction of the two parents.
- When in the last scene, Ishaan is leaving for home.. Aamir, a teacher, who always speaks the correct Hindi with his students, say to him "jaldi aneka ha? holidays ke baad".. Now thats Bombaiya hindi... "aneka ha".. By speaking thus, he is trying to communicate with Ishaan as any Bombaite would. We know that kids love when communicated with them as their friends or equals...Thats great detailing...easily to just slip by..but just shows how well Aamir understands the mood, tone and the characters in his film.
In some of the instances, Aamir shows the life of the people on the lower end of the society, in Bombay.. How ishaan on his day out sees all this and observes..
The film also takes a look at the children who has mentally challenged but still do stuff which bring smile, laughter and joy to the hearts and faces of their parents and guardians. These challenged kids are helped by kind souls who dedicate their time, energy, effort and patience to make them capable enough to enter the mainstream. Here you realise how important these challeged kids are to their parents.. Just in one scene of the film Aamir is able to show you the feelings between these kids and their parents.... The effort of the kids to show their parents how worthy they are... and the proud tears and smiles on the faces of their parents which says aloud - "I am so proud of you, my beautiful child"............ Just amazing stuff....All of this done in a very touching way..The story narration, direction is excellent.. The songs are great... Not that the songs will be played in the discos or even in the ganapati visargans.. but the lyrics of the songs are so very meaningful and touching.. you will have to feel the songs, instead of just listening.. Prashoon joshi has done a great job with the words and Shankar Eshaan Loy has provided able support for the tunes..particularly the song "Tujhe sab hai pata... meri maa" is heart-piercing...
A movie which has kids as the important characters, is always difficult to make.. He heard that from Mani ratnam who made Anjali, we heard it from Shekhar Kapur who made Mr. India... and Taare Zameen Par should be no different... Aamir Khan has done a very difficult job of acting, producing and directing a movie ... which has kids .. at the same time extracting great performance from all involved and .............at the same time doing NOTHING to glorify himself in his movie. Now this is what makes the Amitabhs, the Aamirs and the Hritiks, a class apart....Because they place their work above their personal glorification..
Indeed a heart-touching masterpiece from a person who understands people, who understands cinema, who makes film because it is his passion rather that for glorifying himself.if you have not seen it already, I would certainly recommend it.. Its not the tear-jerker film which you would want to miss..It is a tear-jerking film which will touch you and make you think differently...
Until next time...
