Jan 11, 2008 10:27 PM
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(Updated Jan 11, 2008 10:34 PM)
Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man ~ Rabindranath Tagore
It’s an old saying that if you wish to find God, find a child. A child is at the pinnacle of purity just when it’s born. The heart full of unadulterated love and innocence for anyone and everyone. A smile for a smile may the receiver be a Hindu or Muslim. The holding of the finger whether the hand is that of a millionaire or of a beggar.
And then the days pass by – weeks, months, years. With each passing moment, the adulteration process grips the kid tighter and tighter. The innocence dies bit by bit, and the smile becomes restricted to the known few. Society has given this process a positive name called maturity. The height of this adulteration being, pragmatism.
This tarnishing is inevitable in the contemporary times. How fast or slow, depends on the luck of the kid, because the ever progressing modern science is yet not advanced enough to provide us with the luxury of choosing our own set of parents.
Taare Zameen Par, is the story of the struggle of one such 8-year-old child (Darsheel Safary) who is trying to remain uncontaminated and keep his innocence alive in this “big bad world”. To make matters worse - he is dyslexic(i.e. can’t identify alphabets). His parents can’t understand his needs and nor can he understand why they act so brute despite pronouncing “care” for him.
It’s then that the child finally finds shelter in a teacher(Aamir Khan), who not only nurtures him with the elements his family couldn’t provide but also gives him the space for growth without hampering his individuality.
The evil of capitalism is spreading its roots so rapidly that not even kids have escaped the adversity. The whole life of a person now revolves around just two things – marks & money. While studying, the kid ought to get more and more marks. in every subject. And once the studies are over, the person ought to earn more and more and more money. The richer the person, the more the respect. And the higher the marks, higher the probability of the person getting rich. The result – kids less than 10 years old carrying bags weighing more than 10 kgs.
If the child belongs to a poor family it’s even worse, as s/he has to go through the process of earning money straightaway without getting a chance of gaining literacy. Child Labour, another sweet gift from the cancer of capitalism. It’s rampant, it’s everywhere. We see kids working in inhuman conditions all the time, be it at the footpaths polishing shoes or in the form of that skinny scared waiter in a local restaurant. The danger is we have got so used to it, that it just doesn’t affect us anymore. Our mute acceptability is playing a big role in giving them this life that they are leading.
Taare Zameen Par by no means is a great film and nor is Aamir Khan a great director(as yet). It’s good film with its fair share of flaws. For instance, the father’s character is highly one dimensional. Father is basically a very fragile person trying hard to run a family to the best of his abilities. He can’t see anything beyond short term gains. If anyone has a father like him… my sympathies.
Teacher portrayals are again caricature to the hilt, showing them as devilish characters ready to pounce and hit a child at the slightest opportunity. This takes away some of the film’s credibility. It especially goes overboard with the Hindi teacher’s portrayal having a bunch of hair coming out of his ears.
This is the difference between a good film and a great film. I wonder why Bollywood always needs to be so loud and its climax so melodramatic even to the extent of being silly. Anyone could predict Darsheel is going to win the painting contest. Why do we always need to be so simplistic?
The film works purely because of the topic and the nobility of it. Hence the real credit must go to the script writer and the creative head Mr Amol Gupte who worked on the subject for more than a decade. However, I wonder why he didn’t insist on a bit more crisp editing.
Darsheel is a casting masterstroke. His performance is very good indeed but it would be too early to overrate his abilities before we see him again on the silver screen, playing a different sort of role.
It was nice to see Tisca Chopra, a very good and underused actress as Darsheel’s mom. She plays the role of a housewife and a loving soft-hearted mother to perfection. But again the real assessment of her ability would come in a more a challenging role.
Aamir the actor, is as always very dependable. His confrontations with Darsheel’s father are excellent; especially the scenes when he asks him to read something in Chinese(to make him realize his son’s problem) and then again when the father comes to the school to tell Aamir that he cares for the kid.
Aamir scores as a Director too. Considering this is his debut film the odd flaws can be overlooked. There is potential there and I’d be very keen to see his next venture.
All said and done, Taare Zameen Par is definitely worth a watch(at least once). And don’t just watch it but try to think over it. If possible set your child free to play in the evening rather than sending him for the math tuition. If possible don’t scold him for not getting 80 but just 60 marks. If possible don’t slap your kid servant if he breaks your expensive tea set.
If If If… If wishes were horses… Sigh!
