Andhracafe.com- Star cast: Aamir Khan, Dursheel Safary, Tisca chopra, Vipin Sharma and others. Direction: Aamir Khan

       Unpolished shoes, forgotten homework, scary teachers, nervous moments, bag loads of books and unnoticed slipping of childhood. – A sense of failure, reject, reprimand and above all deja-vu. Childhood lost in schools stern, strict and inexplicable Surrogate goals, predetermined milestones.

        At a system level all this. At the personal level it is about the young Ishaan (Darsheel Safary) who suffers from dyslexia and the more importantly social rejection. The twain tales are told with soul stringing moments. Raw and honest, yet not harsh to hurt, it is truly about grounded stars. It is somewhere of parents breeding success modules instead of rearing children.
        The film comes at a time when in the rush for IIT & IIMs, ‘I’ is lost. Director Aamir Khan not only takes on the Education System (time some one did) but also the middle class hang over on academic achievement over individual talent. Today is the day of the Somnambulist Achiever over Jonathan Living Seaglull.
        Ishaan’s parents (Tisca Chopra & Vipin Sharma) caught in the 
Cobwebs of their own existence do little realise that their child is gifted  and really a differently endowed person. He is a prey to an education system that expects you to follow, not probe. Caught in the toxic whirlpool of numerical assessment, numbers and insensitive supervision Ishaan revolts in the only way he can.

         He recoils and chooses to shrink into his world of dreams and imaginations. His older brother Yohaan (Sachet Engineer) listens to the regular orchestra when Ishaan listens to a different drummer. Type cast as a duffer, he drifts away from the real. Maladjusted to a collective Down’s Syndrome euphemistically called Education. Ishaan makes it to a boarding school – by way of a seeming punishment.
        The temporary Art Teacher Ram Shankar Nikhumb (Aamir Khan) notices the suffering child, counsels the parents, cajoles the school and helps the child stand up. Unfortunately there is a paradox in the solution but overlook it in the context of the film.

          Aamir is alleged to have dubbed Black as manipulative. Thankfully Taare Zameen Par is not. It is honest. It does not probe to hurt. It lingers to protest. It often tells the helpless tale without melodrama. There is a very high degree of understanding of the problem-An area where Sanjay Leela Bansali really failed. Aamir as the film maker brings in a unique sensitivity-not normally associated with our main stream cinema.

          He is human and supportive. He not only shows understanding but handles the issue with classy maturity. He joins Shekar kapoor in the skill to handle children. Doubtlessly he is the debutant director of the year. He may not be in the run to walk up and make the “acceptance speech”, y et he knows he   has made a good film. A film that matters. Pushed to direct the film, he surely leaves his mark. Count the film as a rarity and go for it.
          I am terribly disappointed with a part of the star cast and even the way they are handled.  Except the child star and the actor-director the rest disappoint. Tisca Chopra and Vipin Sharma? I’d have thought Aamir would have chosen a Shefali Shah, Deepti Naval, Nandita Sen along side Sachin Khadekar, Yashpal Sharma or the like. The other teachers are neared to cartoons.
          Aamir the actor gives you his very special moments-like his reactions when the results of the painting context are being announced. Truly enduring. Darsheel as Ishaan gets a dream role and a great Director. He proves his mentle. Amazing young lad. Not since Raju in Kitab and Jugal Hansraj in Masoom has a child artist behaved like one in a mainstream script. Watch the film for his outstanding essay.
           Watch the film not only for the experience of a sensittve, intelligent film from the mainstream, watch it also to purge your conscience of being in the rat race- being the rat or identifying and honouring one on a day to day basis. Taare Zameen par may teach to re evaluate your promise. I hope all academicians, parents and educationists steal a few hours and watch this humbling experience.

           I recommend it to one and all, especially the managements of all schools and colleges presently engaged in the industry of producing doctors, engineers, lawyers and Management experts.  Perhaps the time has come to build better human beings. In the task of nation building, our educationists suffer from Social dyslexia. Time to take a few lessons from the Art Master.
Thanks Aamir.

                                                                                             L.RAVICHANDER