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I am going to do something not usually done - and I am not sure if the rules of the group allow this. But still, I am taking the liberty - of posting another person’s thoughts. That person is Brijesh Kalappa, a friend and an advocate practising in the Supreme Court of India. He wrote this personal mail to me and a few other friends after watching his son post-Taare Zameen Par-viewing. I thought it makes interesting reading, and hence sharing it with all friends here. Here’s what Brijesh wrote in his mail:

My son usually returns from school about lunchtime and like most children his age baulks at the idea of a siesta. If not for a nap post-lunch, he invariably dozes by 9 pm. About a fortnight ago, my wife and I had made reservations to see this movie, which everybody seemed to be speaking about- Taare Zameen Par. Since we have a sixteen year old domestic help, we decided to take her too along with our two children too. My daughter is a year old and was fast asleep when we reached the movie hall at 9 pm. My son however, was a little drowsy as we entered the hall, I figured that he would be asleep in no time too.

Taare Zameen Par starts on a rather rebellious note; Ishaan is easily mistaken to be something of a delinquent. Most of the first part of the movie has him behaving in a rather bindaas, uncaring and caddish manner. It was way into the movie when Ishaan had bunked his classes and was roaming the city streets alone that I noticed for the first time that my son was watching the movie too. He witnessed everything in rapt attention, the poignant departure to hostel… the quiet debasement of the child… corporal punishment… the period of shocked withdrawal… failed attempts of the art teacher Nikumb to reach the boy and the ultimate flowering of the boy genius. My son went to sleep well past midnight- he is three years old.

The following day, as every day after, he tells visitors “Yesterday we went to see Taare Zameen Par.” While driving him to play-school he always demands that the songs from the film be played, and I was never able to do so since I did not have its CD. Once, the FM station played a song from the movie and he instantaneously recognized that it was from Taare Zameen Par. This evening, my wife took him to the nearby market and he insisted that she buy him an audio tape of the film. He held the illustrated cover and kept studying it throughout his outing for about an hour. Back home, he insisted that the songs be played over and over again.

I know for sure that my son identifies with the film. But, at some level, has realization dawned that beneath the veneer of a warm family is loneliness? That a child’s respectable status at home is highly dependent on his performance in school? And that the bottom line for not being taken away to boarding school is a good school report. My quandary is, how do I convey to him that grades do not matter that much to me- I am myself an arts graduate and have fared reasonably well. That I have myself been a day scholar throughout my education and so also my wife- the idea of a boarding school is somehow an anathema to us. Do I speak to him outright? Or do I wait for a few years for him to understand better? Amidst all this, did Aamir Khan really say that “Its not a kids film, it’s a film for adults, but about kids?!