Taare Cinema Par
Aamir Khans Taare Zameen Par is going to release next month and I have great hopes from it. Not every great actor can be a good director and it will be very interesting to see how Aamir handles the difficult subject matter of the movie. Portraying children in Indian movies is always a recipe for disaster. Either our makers make them too childish or too wise. Telling a story of a dyslexic child is even more so. A story which is true both to them as well as pleasing the audience and critics is a mammoth task. The musics great though and knowing Aamir, he will definitely stretch himself out of his comfort zone as an actor so there are some things which are already going for the movie.
But this post is more about all those movies which featured kids. Here is my recollection of a few in no particular order.
Anjali- This Mani Ratnam movie was such a watershed in terms of how kids were portrayed. They were portrayed as you and I know them; a nuisance, wise beyond their years and capable of showing a mirror to the adults around them. A fantastic performance by all the actors concerned made this a movie not to be missed.
Masoom: Probably the cutest boy to ever act in a Hindi movie, Jugal Hansraj had to just look at the camera and hearts would melt. A sensitively portrayed movie with some great dialogues for everybody including the kids.
Iqbal: Shwetha Prasad who plays the role of Khadija is brilliant as the feisty and loyal sister to her brother.
The Blue Umbrella- Binya is brilliant here just with her face. I hardly remember her dialogues but her expressions of annoyance, determination, suspicion and merriment are still fresh in my mind.
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: This was for me, the most irritating portrayal of a kid onscreen. Nothing against her acting but the dialogues which she was given to say and the whole plot just killed the movie for me.
Cheeni Kum: Kids can be smart yes, but please dont ever give me another Sexy in any other movie. Movies like this make you think if the director or writer has ever been around kids.
Mr. India: Bunch of kids here but hardly anyone stands out. All of them are one dimensional or maybe they just dont have enough screen time.
Please add your movies and recollections to this list.
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I think a santosh sivan film called Halo - is perfect movie where only the child actor takes you across a gamut of emotions. a must watch. Halo.
Binya was a delight in The Blue Umbrella.
What about the Ayesha Kapoor in “Black”? I think that was also a beautiful portrayal….
Makadee..brilliant film enjoyable for kids n adults..
Halo- Right. Made a mental note about it.
Black- Oh my god! How did I miss that from my list? But frankly I am not a great fan of The Sanjay Bhansali Treatment. He accentuates everything in his movies and I was wishing Ayesha Kapoor grows up fast while watching the movie. She did act well though (how can anyone criticize a kid anyway?)
Chain Khuli Ki Main Khuli- Another movie I should have mentioned. Really enjoyable movie this year which has gone under the radar with a damn cool storyline and acting by a couple of kids.
Yes, I enjoyed Makadee as well though somehow don’t recollect it so well.
Also haven’t seen Shwaas till date. Heard that’s another very well made movie.
I would’ve agreed with you about the kid in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, but then I saw the insult to film people call Ta Ra Rum Pum. The kids in it were just so fake! It’s almost like Siddharth Anand put the kids in for cuteness, but their emotions seem totally artificial, past the point of irritating.
Raj- Thanks God I gave that movie a miss! I watched the first scene with the kids and the rest clapping and chanting Saif’s name and then the montage started with Saif walking in and that was enough for me to do better things.
Another disappointing movie for me was Kannathil Muthamittal by Mani Ratnam. Many people liked it but for me the plot itself was unconvincing the child actor didn’t make much of an impression on me.
Two movies comes to my mind are Kaash, by Mahesh Bhatt and Safed Haathi.
Hum Hai Rahi Pyar Ke in which Kunal Khemu was loveble as Sunny.
hey…
if uve seen parzania..
the two kids .parzan dastur and the girl are brilliant in the movie….
its a pity that not many have seen the movie..
other movies with children that come to my mind are
kitaab
tera mera saath rahein( average movie but decent performance by the child)
eagerly waiting for TZP…going by the trailers and the music aamir already has a winner …
what about Parichay starring Jaya Bacchan and Jitender. I agree the kids in that film would also be considered uni-dimensional by some of you guys, but still I liked them, especially that scene where the little boy steals the carrom coins! The look on his face still brings a smile to my face
I think Kunal Khemu’s performance in Zakhm was outstanding.
i rmmbr a movie called KITAAB.It was nice as well… gud songs.
Chotta Chetan was brilliant!
The little girl(Young Annie)in Khamoshi?
I think she made an impact and was very natural. Agree on all the other movies. Masoom stands out for me.
Moving away from Indian cinema, the movies that feature kids who touched my heart are
To kill a mocking bird
Children of heaven
Nowhere in Africa
A lot of great movies mentioned here, specially in the comments section. One that hasn’t been mentioned yet is - Gulzar’s Kitaab which had Master Raju running away from home - sadly the movie didn’t and until now hasn’t received the recognition it deserves.
Children were also used as a leverage for bringing out the emotional roller coaster. Brahmachari starring Shammi Kapoor.
(Darn, just saw that Parth has mentioned Kitaab… late again… you guys are too fast)
I think Swami would feature in any kids-on-screen list. To me, lots of films where there is no ’see how i make kids act’ pitch work more.
some memorable ones:
anjali, blue umbrella, kanathil muthamittal, 1947 earth(zeenie baby), Halo, the small vidya balan in guru, rahul(the kid was awesome), the pursuit of happiness, uptown girl(some random film I saw- great work by dakota fanning)…
more later as I recollect them…
Nice post by the way.
1)do watch “Dahavi F” a marathi film if u ppl get a chance…its abt the chidren of SSC…amazing performances by child artistes n Atul kulkarni
2)Child artist from Salaam Bombay was awesome
3)Childs performance from a marathi movie ” Shyamchi aai” is also something special
Talking of children’s movies and/or movies with kid(s) as central character(s)…Halo is a must watch. Great movie! very nice and unusual direction.
But I think movies like Halo or Blue Umbrella are for adults…Makdee of course is all in all a children’s movie. very enjoyable
P.S: I remember there used to be a week (perhaps some time in summer vacations) when DD used to show children’s movies, I think, in the afternoon. That’s when I saw Kitaab, Safed haathi etc. I remember I used to wait all morning and then watch them alone while everyone took a siesta.
Just came across this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQqnUePZbPI
Any one remembers one of Aamir Khans Biggest hits - Hum hai rahi pyaar ke !
malli by santosh sivan. a great watch.
Arun @ 20: Actually I do! Happened to catch a few scenes on TV recently but I don’t think the director paid any special attention to the children’s roles. They were all treated the same. They were all happy and sad together. All of their emotions lumped to the extent that it didn’t make a difference if it was one kid or three. But a nice movie nevetheless!
and of course not to forget the greatest children films made by the master himself (if you insist on calling them children films) - Goopy Gayne Bagha Byne, Hirok Rajar Deshe, Sonar Kella, Jay Baba Felunath. There are other Bengali films as well like Damu, Patalghar and Hirer Angti (the first film of Rituparna Ghosh).
Gurudev @ 12: Yup agree with you Kunal Khemu’s performance in Zakhm. One of my favorite movies.
Tushar @ 16: Yes, remember zeenie in 1947- Earth as a standout portrayal.
So many good movies mentioned here, and so many I need to catch up on!
@oz
dude who can forget kitaab..
simply outstanding…
remember the song….
“master jee ki aa gayi chitti..chitti main se nikala bandar..”
marvellous
i feel our generation is missing out on gulzar’s work….
i hope he returns to direction soon….
lately heard a rumour tht he was planning a movie with rani mukerji to be produced by vishal bhardwaj…hope it turns out to be true….
Surprised no one mentioned Boot Polish!! from Raj Kapoor. High on emotional quota and a beautiful story line, with the famous songs “Nanhe Mune Bache Teri Muthi Mein kya hai”.
Another movie comes to my mind is “Chota Chetan”.
@Anand
watched Shyaamchi aai few days back. loved it, cute kid. Will try to look for ‘Dahavi F’.
And yeah Kunal Khemu was amazing in Zakhm. Among the ones I have seen, I would rate it the best performance by a child actor.
No one’s mentioned “Dosti?” Not exactly a childrens film but the little girl (Baby Farida) was fantastic and simply outstanding performances by Sudhir Kumar and Sushil Kumar as the blind and langda boys respectively were just outstanding.
My personal favorite children’s film has to be Gulzar’s Parichay. The carom scene… the scene where Master Raju is secretly eating toast in the class, and dialogues like:
Jeetendra: “Chee chee chee, usse buddha nahin kehte”
Raju: “Buddha to hai, uski moochein bhi safet hai!”
Or
Raju: “Aye, harami!”
Jaya: “Aye Raju! Yeh tune kahan se seeka?”
Raju: “Chokidaar se…”
Very cute stuff.
And agreed with Jugal Hansraj being the cutest child artist ever. Dude, his expressions when he was building the doghouse and hit himself with the hammer actually brought tears to my eyes…
I thought Rockford was pretty good as well…
Another movie where the kid overacts & irrates to the core is ‘Jab Pyar kise se Hota Hai’. Salman’s moive. The kid in question is Aditya Narayan (Udit narayans’ son). He really irrates (not that his acting is bad, but the role & dialogues really piss you off.)
@Dazed
i dont think..there must be films on kids..becos its impossible to portray thier emotions.
They are fun..and always njoy every bit.
Kids cry (oveboard emotion) but they dont feel guilt or even for that reason they dont have cognition of sufferings as portrayed by films
y do filmakers abuse by portraying them as loosers(black) and feel good factor at the end.
The kids in the latest film ‘Mahek’ are very good too.This film won the best film award at ARPA film festival and was screened at many interntaional films festivals like London, Toronto film festivals too.
@Srikanth,
if you think that its impossible portray the emotions of kids may be you should open your eyes to Iranian film like Where is my friends home, white elephant, Color of paradise, apple, children of heaven etc…
venkat
www.24fps.co.in
D&C, completely agree with you on “Cheeni Kum” and “Iqbal”. I am looking forward to see The blue umbrella. Can’t wait!
However, I must admit am one of those who loved the girl in “Kannathil Muthamittal”.
Agree with Tushar on the girl in “1947 Earth” and with Anand about “Salaam Bombay” child.
Another one I liked was the kid in “Akele hum akele tum”. I thought the chemistry he shared with Aamir was fantastic.
But my favourite one has to be the one in “Mammo”. He wasn’t such a small kid, but he wasn’t a teenager yet. I loved him. He is responsible for “Mammo” being one of my favourite films. I wonder what happened to this actor.
Out of Indian cinema, I recently loved the kids in “Les Choristes”, especially P
@ Monica
“But my favourite one has to be the one in
ANURAG…you should make short films…somehow your ideas are brilliant but not for 2hrs..apne 10 -12 ideas ki ek film bana ke dekh.
i have liked the child actors in Iqbal n Shwas