'Taare Zameen Par' shines through and through

A children's movie that every adult must watch
 
Cast: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan
Director: Aamir Khan
Rating: ****
 
Taare Zameen Par (TZP) is a story of an eight-year-old Ishaan Awasthi whose dyslexic mind refuses to conform to the rush hour pace of the world that his family, friends and teachers have made their own. It's the tale of a kid who has steam engines and fire-breathing dragons swimming around his head when his vexed mother readies him for school helped on by a bugged conductor who tosses him into the school bus every time he runs late.
 
Aamir Khan's directorial debut, Taare Zameen Par, is a winner through and through. Apart from handling the subject with an exact dash of sensitivity, the film strikes the right note by stripping parents of their obsessions with 'readying' their children for what they think life is all about.
 
Even as the movie begins with a blackboard jammed with digits and alphabets with a siren screaming in the background, you know that you are in for something new. But this does not belie that the way in which streams of numbers and alphabets make their way to Ishaan is lifted straight out of the Richard Gere-starrer, Bee Season. Also, the special effects at the start of the movie aren't that eye-popping.
 
But TZP is one of those heart-wrenching tales of a dyslexic boy who upon finding it difficult to cope and interact at a downtown school in Mumbai is packed off to a boarding school to be disciplined. Some of the scenes in this movie have been shot with an unseen originality. The scene where Ishaan juts his head out from the front window of a double-decker bus, baring his arms and face to the rush of air is delightful.
 
Darsheel Safary does complete justice to the role of Ishaan. When you see him crying, sucking in air through a pair of trembling buck-tooth, you realise he is a natural. Aamir too raises his own bar in this film. As Ram Shankar Nikumbh, the new Arts teacher at the boarding school, he is caught performing only once in this film -- during his entry song. For the rest of the movie, he is content merging with the rest of the elements in this disarmingly spirited tale. Tisca Chopra, who plays Ishaan's mother, is another find -- an actor who knows how to pitch her emotions just right.
 
Aamir Khan should have no fears of having spoken too much too soon. In short, those potshots at Black will stand the test. TZP is a step ahead of other movies based on special children for it raises pertinent questions associated with such issues. Where do differently-abled children belong? Can they be a part of a regular school? Should parents stop shoving manufactured expectations on kids?

Taaren Zameen Par is a poignant tale, well told and exquisitely shot. A must-see for both adults and children.