Directed by Aamir Khan

Produced by Aamir Khan

WRITTEN by Amole Gupte

Starring Darsheel Safary

Aamir Khan
Tisca Chopra
Vipin Sharma
Sachet Engineer
Tanay Chheda

MUSIC BY Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Cinematography  Setu (Satyajit Pande)

edited by Deepa Bhatia

distributed by Aamir Khan

Productions

Release date 14 December 2007

RUNNING TIME 164 minutes

Country India

Language  Hindi

Budget ₹120 million

Box office est.₹889 million

The Bollywood film ‘Taare Zameen Par’ portrays a
strong and important message that transcends
through culture, race and religion. The title of the film
directly translates from Hindi to ‘Stars upon the
ground.’ The director Aamir Khan uses this metaphor
to enlighten audiences of the idea that children are
like stars in the world, and that every child is
special in his or her own way. Unlike the
conventional bollywood film that consists of romance,
comedy, fight scenes, songs and more romance, Taare
Zameen Par is not an entertainer, but rather an eye
opener.

The film touches on a social disorder predominately

within the Indian subcontinent and other parts of
Asia. Parents are constantly pressuring their children
to excel in all areas of life especially school; therefore
no one has patience or sympathy toward slow
learners. Everyone is required to join the rat race
and win it too.
The story of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ is about eight-year-old
Ishaan Awasthy who suffers from dyslexia. He has
failed the 3rd grade twice now, and things aren’t
getting any better. Ishaan complains that the words
on pages ‘dance’ and writing and spelling is terrible.
Despite this, he has an abnormal inclination
towards art and successfully creates captivating
paintings. His parents and teachers fail to realize his
problem of dyslexia and send him off to boarding
school with the accusation of insolence towards school
work. Things only became worse at boarding school;
he slips into depression and misses his mother.
Fortunately for Ishaan, a new art teacher joins the
boarding school and re-habilitates the young boy so
that he may legitimately compete with fellow
classmates.

Taare Zameen Par is so compelling because it evokes

the emotions of a scared little boy who does not
understand his place in life. No matter how hard he
tries, he keeps walking into the same wall, his
struggle and bravery to face the world is truly
inspiring. Ishaan is the character who stood out the
most, child artist Darsheel Safary accurately portrayed
every nuance of a gifted child who suffers from
such humiliation, trauma and torture.
In terms of technicalities the director took a spin on
things by adding animations to depict what was
happening in the little boys head. For example, during
a song sequence, (its still bollywood) giant spiders
come crawling out of Ishaan’s back pack, this
portrays his animosity and fear toward school work.
The music is another plus point of the movie,
particularly the song ‘Maa’ that illustrates Ishaan’s
first days at boarding school where he cannot co-op
without his mother.

A motif in the film is drawings of various marine

life, because marine life is so diverse it explains the
theme which is that every child is special, thus
used effectively to express individuality. Taare Zameen
Par deserves five stars, because it is the first motion
picture that has ever made me cry. One thing is for
sure, remember to bring a box of tissues, the flood
gates are guaranteed to burst open.

“Every child is an artist and have a

different way to think ,,,,Every child is
special and unique. The problem is
how to remain an artist once we
grow up.’’