Cast: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra
Director: Aamir Khan
Writer and Creative Director: Amol Gupte
Rating: ****

In Taare Zameen Par, there's a scene where Aamir Khan's character, Ram Shankar Nikumbh, a teacher, is served chai at a dhaba, by a boy not  older than nine. He looks down at the boy with compassion, and the next shot shows the boy sitting next to Ram, with his own tea-glass, relishing biscuits he dips in the tea. And Ram just looks at him silently. Taare Zameen Par, among other things, is a lesson in how  silence can be used wonderfully to depict emotions.

Taare Zameen Par's story revolves around 9-year-old Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary), who's lost in his own world, never finishes work assigned to him by teachers, does not fare well in examinations, and  lands in trouble even when he doesn't intend to. At the same time, the guy is brilliant with the paint brush in his hand, a talent his parents choose to ignore.

Finally, with no sign of improvement in his performance at school, and upset with his unwillingness to study, his parents decide to send him to a boarding school, thinking that the school's disciplined lifestyle will change the child. This move affects the self-confidence of the kid greatly, who is also rebuked by teachers at the new school, as he fails to improve on his studies there too.

Enter new art teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir), who realizes soon after interacting with the kid that there is more to what meets the  eyes. Soon, he realizes that Ishaan's underperformance is not due to his reluctance to learn, but a result of a disease called dyslexia, a learning disability that makes it difficult to read and spell. Ram then weaves his magic to make the kid win back his confidence and prove to the world that he is one with extraordinary qualities.

The basic plot, about the underdog student and the reformist teacher has been seen previously in Hindi cinema, Black and Chak De India  being two recent examples. In spite of a heard-that-before kind of a story, the movie offers something never spoken about before - dyslexia. And writer Amol Gupte has intelligently woven the story around the disease, not compromising on the entertainment quotient  even one bit. It's apparent that the issue has been well-researched, and is explained to the audience in a manner that makes you feel that you have known dyslexia all your life.

In fact, the scene where Ram explains to the dumbstruck parents that  their child suffers from the disease is heart-wrenching. Two people deserve an ovation for the scene. The first is the person who wrote that scene, and the second is the actor who enacted it. In this case, the two people happen to be Amol Gupte and Aamir.

Every time the actor looks into the camera, his eyes reflecting the inner turmoil he's undergoing even as he talks, it pulls at your heartstrings. At that moment, you're glad that Gupte took his brilliant script to Aamir because he thought the star would do justice to it, as an actor, and producer. Who ended up directing the film, doesn't matter. The result is awesome.

The movie has an emotional quotient that will move even the  stone-hearted. Scenes like the one where Ishaan cries alone on the terrace after being beaten by other kids, the mother and child missing each other, Ishaan being reprimanded by teachers and his father, the one where mentally handicapped children perform for their parents at a  function, are all tear-jerkers.

It helps that the actors enact their roles brilliantly. Darsheel Safary, especially, is a revelation. Be it scenes where he is trying to hide a prank, painting with all concentration, or where he cowers,  upset and dejected, he manages to do it all with natural ease. More importantly, he does not go overboard even once. Suitably restrained and natural to the core, Darsheel has given a performance that will go down as one of the best among child artists. Tisca Chopra has been aptly cast as the helpless mother, and does full justice to her role.

Aamir Khan is a delight. The actor proves his mettle, and as hard as it might seem, betters all his previous performances. In fact, you are  waiting for the actor to arrive on the scene with bated breath, and when he does, he leaves you spellbound. You also wish that he appeared in movies more often.

Taare Zameen Par is more than just entertaining. A film that makes you  think, it will change the way you perceive children - children who have to deal with parents who have exceedingly high expectations from their offsprings, children who have to deal with educational institutions who discriminate against children with certain inabilities, and
children who have to deal with every person who feels that unless a child is 'academically' superior, he has no talent worth talking about. It points out, glaringly, that we get so obsessed with making right the lives of our children, that we tend to overlook are own faults.

All said and done, Taare Zameen Par is a groundbreaking piece of work. One of the rare films that educate and enlighten at the same time, it  will go down in history as a film that laid the benchmark when it comes to dealing with child issues in films.

Aniruddha Guha