A Chapter From Life
iView Author: SimplySami
(Toronto, Canada)
Email: simply.sami [at] gmail [dot] com
A Chapter From Life
Taare Zameen Par: Stars found on earth.
Stars! Stars found on earth? A normal individual walking down the street would find this idea absurd!! Would call the person crazy? How can stars be found on earth? If for once we step back and realize not objectively but through the vision of the writer, Stars are indeed found on earth. Stars that shine above our heads, that illuminate our small dark world can be found on earth. Those stars represent every child that is born on this earth. Children are like small twinkling stars who spread their love towards us adults. They light your world, their innocence would make you forget your troubles, their tears would wrench your heart and their smile would melt your heart. Taare Zameen Par takes us into a world which transports us from our adulthood to our childhood. It embarks on the journey of a child who will face any challenge yet with a little support can come out victorious.
However what if the child who is born is not normal, what if he/she cannot see, what if he/she cannot walk, what if they cannot talk, what if they cannot hear, What if they suffer from disorders? Do we who are classified as “Normal” have a right to side-line these kids? Do we as parents should feel frustrated by these kids who are not “normal” according to the world? Do we turn our back on these kids? Forget a child with disability; we tend to turn away from our responsibility as individuals, as parents, when our child fails, when our child cannot compete against another individual, when our child cannot be as good as other children. We as individuals tie our kids to our high expectations and some where along the lines we are responsible for snatching away the innocence from these children. We try to impose our rules, our customs, and our culture. There is no doubt that when a child is born, we have to teach them about the culture, about the customs, about who we are, about how they can try and reach their goals. But there is a difference between teaching and imposing… Now days a common trend is not of teaching but of imposing…Aren’t we then responsible of sidelining children with disability? Do we as individuals should be then called as “Normal”.
Taare Zameen Par is a movie that should be seen by parents, would be parents, teachers, and youth. It cannot be classified as a children’s movie, sure the children would enjoy the animation, the music but the message of what is being conveyed is solely for the parents, teachers, and youth. The simplicity of the movie is its best asset. I am not a parent, but I felt as the next generation there is a lot one can do to remove the blindfold that is set in front of our eyes and should see the world from a different perspective. Taare Zameen Par touches on the delicate subject of the turmoil a nine year old experience.
The story is not just about a dyslexic child, it’s about every child out there in the world. The hardships, the ups-n downs of life that one faces, the hesitance of taking the next step forward in this world, the fear of not being accepted is what sums up TZP. Ishaan Awasti(Darsheel Safaray) is a 9 year old boy, who is dream, a visionary, an artist who has woven his dreams in his mind and portrays his emotions through his art. When we are introduced to Ishaan he takes us into a journey where he makes us see the world through his eyes were “Life is beautiful” and it is only “Adults” who have made it difficult for our self. The first half of the movie makes us see the various faces of a life that child goes through. Ishaan transforms from a rebel to depressed child, from a child who takes a brave step in an unknown place to a defeated child and moving back into his shell. The reason behind the defeat is the world outside doesn’t make us understand the turmoil a child goes through that age. The world wants us to see the world the way everyone does, where success is measure not through your talent but through your wealth, through the cut throat competition. Till the second half we are kept unaware of the fact that Ishaan is suffering from dyslexia, the reason being because I think they didn’t want to tie the emotions of pity, sympathy for a child who is suffering from dyslexia. Your heart still goes out for Ishaan when he cries not to be sent to boarding school. The song “Ma” a beautiful composition, where the first few lines
“Main kabhi batlata nahi… Par andhere se darta hoon main maa..Yun to main, dikhlata nahin… Teri parwaah karta hoon main maaTujhe sab hain pata, hain na maa… Bheed mein yun na chodo mujhe… Ghar laut ke bhi aa naa paun maa …Bhej na itna door mujkko tu… Yaad bhi tujhko aa naa paoon maa..Kya itna bura hoon main maa… Kya itna bura meri maa…”One of my favorite compositions till date…These lines sum up the bottled up emotions of a child. When we are not able to get anything right, we don’t want the world to see our weakness. We tend to be defensive and rebel against anyone who tries to oppress because we are scared to acknowledge that we lack something that others have. Ishaan makes you relieve childhood moments of your life, He will make you smile with his naughtiness, he will make you cry with his innocence, he will make you want to reach and comfort him with his vulnerability. During the course of the movie, Ishaan is warned by his father that another complaint from school and he will be shipped off to boarding school. Soon Ishaan lands into trouble and is shipped off to boarding school. The solution of getting rid of problems now a days is either through running away or through failing to admit that you have a problem The frustration of the parents who are dealing with an undisciplined child was shot beautifully. It showed the inability of parents to recognize the disorder the child is suffering from, where its difficult for a parent to accept that your child might not be like other children out there seemed very natural and close to home because we do fear for the sake of our children that they shouldn’t be sidelined.
Ishaann then embarks a new journey in Panchgani Boarding School where he soon learns that he isn’t able to grasp the concept he is being taught and he would never be able to fit into the “normal” crowd. Ishaan runs back into his shell, where he has closed all the doors of happiness, who cries and fears to be alone but no one is there to comfort him. We are soon introduced Ram Swami Nikumbh who is a temporary Art teacher for the Panchgani Boarding School. Ram Nikumbh(Aamir Khan): A brilliant teacher, mentor and friend. A teacher who has come to rescue Ishaan from his state of dilemma just like a guardian because Nikumbh knows the feeling of being outcast by your parents, peers, and teachers therefore feels that maybe he can reach out to him. He is a teacher, who is there to break the norms of the on going world, a teacher who isn’t a teacher but a friend, a teacher who would kneel down and make you feel that you are not alone. When realization dawns up Ram that Ishaan is suffering from dyslexia, what follows till the finale are some of the superb moments captured. Right from Ram visiting Ishaan’s parents to the painting comptetion, makes you see him as angel who is brought to save Ishaan from being moved into a world of darkness. The last 15 minutes of movies were enacted so brilliantly…right from where Ishaan starts to draw his final piece of art till the last frame of the movie where he runs back and hugs his teacher was shot exceptionally well. The scene of acknowledging a child’s talent over a teacher passed on the message that talent has no barrier. There couldn’t be a better ending for the movie which wasnt a happy ending but an ending which embarked on the start of a new life for Ishaan.
TZP had some of the brilliant scenes and sequences its hard to pin-point one scene. The scene where Nikumbh conveys the story of the people who weren’t able to read and write but didn’t give up on their dreams, these people came up with theories, novels, inventions that people thought were crazy at their time yet still they are the most renowned people. When Nikumbh sir is relaying his message to the class, the emotions portrayed by Ishaan was fabulous, every child would want a hole in the ground and cover himself up so that the world doesn’t pin-point at him, but on the course of the story that Nikumbh is conveying to the class, we see a change of emotion from scared child to a child who is a bit confident, confident because he knew one answer to the question, confident because he thought he wasnt alone. It was the realization that he isn’t alone and for the first time he speaks to his teacher because he feels that he could open up to one person who might just slightly understand him. Another sequence where the plight of the child is so beautifully captured, After Ishaan dreams that his mom has left him on the station and He wakes up and cries to his mom hoping to change her view of sending him to boarding.. He conveys that look I know my alphabets; I promise I won’t ask crackers for Diwali just please dont send me to boarding school. The child’s innocence behind giving up the small pleasure of lighting a cracker so that they wont send him to boarding was heart wrenching. After Ishaan is send to boarding and his frustration of not doing well and then exerting him self by running around the basketball court to take out the frustration and then going into a shell and not coming out because he has tried and failed and no one seems to understand him so he shuts himself out.
TZP seems like a chapter taken out of ones life… Ever since a child is born the expectation are tied to them. Parents aspire their children to be someone who would complete their dreams, someone who would raise their name in the society, someone who they could be proud of because of their achievement. TZP teaches one to take a step back and realize what are you really doing to your children. Have you forgotten that the child you reared is someone who you asked for? He/She is a blessing for you and not a burden… So what if the child is not an ace student…So what if he/she doesn’t end up being a doctor or engineer.. Does that make them less special… If one falls down a step… would you keep pushing the person down till they tumble down all the stairs or pick them up and make them realize that its okay to fall… everyone does and that’s how you will learn. Every child has his/ her own ability and talent that needs to be nurtured. It is the love of parents that can have major impact on the child’s development and his self-confidence. It takes a lot to be a parent and the sacrifices one makes to rear their children up but remember that each child you are raising would differ from one another… if one is an ace doesn’t mean the other has to be a world class genius.. Learn to encourage children… show them that you love them no matter of their success or failure, love them for who they are not who they will be.
One can clearly identify with each and every character because it reminds one of their own childhood. The dialogues are not over the top, they are words, and quotes that we use in our day to day life which helps us understand the viewpoint of the character. A particular dialogue where Ishaan interprets a poem and says “Jo Dikhta hai, Wo Kabhi kabar nhi hota, Jo Nahi dikhta hai wo kabhi kabar hota hai”, failing to understand the message shows the ignorance on part of the teacher who is still caught up with materialistic world outside. The teacher fails to understand the message however a child with disability (Rajan) is able to understand because sometimes when you experience and see the world differently(Your experiences as a child who has faced problems, troubles or is with a disability would see the world from a different presepective then rest of the world).
The Music of the film, is soul-stirring In Each and every song depict the plight of child, his uncertainty about the worlds, his dreams, his weakness and his strength which helps the movie move forward and makes you fall in love with music all over again. All the songs are brilliantly picturised as well! And not forget Setu cinematography simply outstanding work. Capturing the small details (the flip book, the tear which is there but isn’t ready to leave the eye) is a work of a genius. Special mention to the title track “TZP” and “Ma” beautiful composition, they were just mesmerizing, the message behind the songs, the vulnerability of child, the uniqueness of a child are so well captured through words and scenes they make your heart go out for the child and want you to hug the child. Special mention to Amole Gupta for coming up with a flawless and heartfelt script, where the emotions were so well pinned down, from the attention to little details of the child’s character to the realization of behalf of the parents lies the strength of the script. Kudos to Amole Gupta from coming up with a real heartfelt script.
TZP by far was the most awaited movie of 2007… and what a way to end the year with bringing out one of the finest and remarkable movie of the year. It comes with a good awakening message for everyone. The movie marks the directorial debut of Aamir Khan, who is one of the finest actors in the Indian Cinema by far, If there is one star that needed to be named for his versatility it would be Aamir Khan. However, the star of the movie this time around isn’t Aamir Khan but its Darsheel Safary, I think as a child artist the child was superb, rite from the first frame to the last frame, He held ones attention where he made you smile, cry and love him till the last frame of the movie. His transformation from rebel to depressed, from a child who takes a brave step in an unknown place to a defeated child and moving into his shell was simply remarkable. To extract the right emotions out of a child at such a young age and capture them says a lot about the brilliance behind the camera. It takes a lot for child to carry the whole movie on his shoulders and come out as a winner at the end with the support of brilliant Teacher Aamir Khan and supporting cast the movie is bound to touch everyone’s heart. Hats off to Aamir for pulling out such a masterpiece.. If its an actor’s directorial debut one would usually expect the movie to centrally focus on the actor himself, so that they are not sidelined but A.K moves against the norms and lets Darsheel walk away with the credit. Darsheel Safary no doubt emerges as one of the best find of 2008, Kudos to Amole Gupta for finding such a gem! In the end we could say that the stars have indeed landed up on earth & through TZP we celebrate the shear magic of cinema.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I had a dream where i met darsheel safary..
for one moment it was so real and so beautiful ^_^
He is my favourite actor of 2007,many might say that all he had to do was give cute expressions and do some easy-peasy crying scenes…but if he didnt convincingly pull off a child who has convincing ups and downs in self confidence…this film might not have worked
i feel tempted to go wait at his school[which i happen to know :P] and shake hands with him…or play football with him :P
A small correction, it is NOT “Amole Gupta” but “Amole Gupte” – who has been the brain behind the script & creative director of the movie.