A ‘Common’ Child writes…

Some of the people whom I met and heard from about the movie ‘Taare Zameen Par‘ and their verdicts/opinions before I actually went out to see it…

My boss, “It’s a great movie… superb!”

A neighbor “You’ve not seen it? Yet? Why?… it’s a very good movie”

A senior person at my company “Very good movie but I felt that there was no need for the first part, the real movie start after the intermission…”

Actually when one of my colleagues suggested I go and watch this movie I reverted with a caustic remark saying “Who needs to see a movie about a little guy’s sufferings? Everybody gets flogged once in a while at school, if he escapes that then he is made fun of at the school, if the lucky titter escapes that he is bound to get his fair share when he gets ragged at college. In case of he escaping all this he is sure to be screwed enough at work, and believe me that makes up for all the hassled years that he’d have spent… There is no chance but if he is the luckiest guy and escapes this too… he marries and that’s the end of everything… he gets beaten up by his wife [this is more plausible than you think, if you are single, you are happy] and last but not the least it’s the children…” By this time the colleague had given up any hope of me ever watching this movie…

But then all the channels were talking about it. Positively too. I don’t know why but I just did not feel like watching the movie and the whole reason I went yesterday was that a friend pulled me along and frankly I had nothing better to do than to watch it. I wanted to watch National Treasure – 2 instead…

Ishan Nandakumar Avasti is a nine-year-old kid who is below average in class and cannot read/write properly and manages only single digit marks all the time, while his brother tops his class along with being active in extra curricular activities. Ishan gets his elder brother who is surprisingly nice to write him a absent note once, gets caught, ‘evil’ dad puts him in boarding school, much to the child’s sorrow causing grief to his mom as well. The kid does not participate in any activities in boarding school and is made to sit next to the topper, who (curiously) is a nice guy…

Enter Aamir Khan, the temporary art teacher, with a “Bam Bam Bole” and every kid starts liking him. He notices Ishan’s aloofness and has a look at the boy’s records and stuff. He finds out the kid is dyslexic and tries to correct his problem. He works hard with the kid and the child gets back his self confidence.

He organizes a painting competition so that people recognize the talent that the kid has and resultantly the kid becomes popular. The kid’s parents are happy. The movie ends.

Ishaan’s story is somewhat like mine and probably a lot of people would say the same thing – privately to themselves. But I don’t need to admit it privately. (Read Post Script – P.S.) I always had an idea that my incompetence in school was not something that I did on purpose. What Aamir succeeded in doing was to show me exactly how it wasn’t. The best portion of the film was the part when the world systematically breaks the spirit of little boy. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that Ishaan doesn’t encounter one sympathetic soul in life (except for his mother, like mine) – it is a de-sensitised world, where we have no patience with people who can’t keep pace. It used to feel exactly like that. Every little thing, like wanting to escape a class (I actually did runaway from one of my classes in 6th Grade since I had not got my test papers signed by my parents), worrying day in and day out about the class a mean teacher took once a week. The nail in the wall comes when his principal says, “Who will believe that he is Yohan Awasti’s brother”…

Ishan has done a phenomenal job in the movie and might get the ‘Best Child Artist’ award, the only real contender would be the ’sexy’ girl from Cheeni Kum… Aamir is good too and there is apparently no actress in the movie but then it didn’t need one.

My verdict on Taare Zameen Par: Simply Superb! Must Watch…

My Favourite Scene: When Ishaan sees the portrait Aamir made of him. He knows that the latter takes special interest in him but when he realises that someone actually loves him, a reassurance that he desperately needs after his parents abandon him, probably mean more to him than the award that he got and he feels more hugging Aamir than facing the world… (Watch the video – Click here)

P.S. - I always wondered if there would be any character ever filmed that would match my test scores during my school days. Ishan is me. One of the most loving people I ever met is my mom. (I was in morning school, sometimes when I got late she used to come to my school and carry warm milk in a Maggi ketchup bottle to feed it to me – I love you, mom – Oh! Did I mention she used to tie my shoe laces and brush my teeth till 8th grade?). My sister was and still is one of the most considerate family members. I have had my fair share of slapping among other things, courtesy: my dad (but he does love me too, now). I realized yesterday how much I miss them. I never did say thanks to my most considerate teachers – Geeta Ma’am and Surekha Ma’am. Thanks!

Caution: Carry a handkerchief along, I had lot of trouble since I did not carry one!