Taare Zameen Par...

There are some movies which you go to watch with a lot of expectation and anticipation. And when the movie delivers more than what you expect, you know that it has surpassed everything. Five minutes into this film, I felt that this movie is something completely out of this world!!!

It is indeed pitiful that you need a movie about children to sensitize people towards them. All talks about economic development, alleviation of poverty, decreasing unemployment seem worthless if we are unable to give children their childhood. The days seem long lost when children used to go out, play, draw, keep jumping up and down and running around with lots of excitement. What our society has set out to produce is a bunch of straight-jacketed robots who are armed with the ability to survive the pulls and pressures in this world. It's even sadder that the adults justify what is happening by saying that it is an essential quality needed to succeed in this world. This movie is virtually a slap on the face of the adults in this society - parents, teachers, politicians, policy-makers, businessmen, academicians - everyone. It will shown them their true nature as if they were looking at their own reflections in the mirror.

I am sure that each one of you would identify with atleast portions of Ishaan's character as we all have been through similar experiences in life. The days when we enjoyed jumping in puddles of water without any worry about dirtying our clothes, when we used to play with the dogs in our building compound treating them as our best pals, when we enjoyed playing in the rains, when we simply refused to sit down to do our homework!!! If someone has not experienced some of the above or has forgotten that this is how we used to be, he or she should walk out of the cinema hall as it is a futile attempt to explain to such people. It is Aamir's honest attempt to coax parents and educationists to think about their methods of parenting, teaching and educating children. It's essentially not a movie about a dyslexic child. It's about every child who is born into this beautiful world with its own talents, skills, capabilities, dreams and ambitions.

I really hope that some of the parents and potential parents take something out of this movie. Also there are points to ponder for the educationists regarding the pattern that is currently followed in schools and colleges. The system of elimination is worse than the system of inclusion. What is the point if one day we only have engineers, doctors and managers? India, well and truly, will be destroyed that day and it's time we take some rearguard action to avoid that.

The question still remains as to who would employ such students who love doing those activities which will never find any recognition in this cruel society. Maybe everyone is not born to work as analysts, engineers, scientists or accountants. There are some who need and deserve much more than organizational roles and positions which are assigned all too easily by this world based on your qualifications and work experience. If only those who were capable of cracking interviews and competitive exams were genuinely great people, we would have progressed much ahead than where we are now.

It's unfortunate to see the society not allowing kids to live the life of a child any more. Even the cartoons shown now-a-days on TV are bull-shit as compared to what we were fed in our childhood. Greater number of tests in the form of mid-terms, surprise quizzes, end-terms, orals etc. mean little to the overall development of any individual. What is the point if after cracking all these tests, basic human qualities of honesty, selflessness, true love and altruism cease to exist in individuals?

Taare Zameen Par is a mind-blowing movie and no matter how much I write, it will end up falling short of the true worth of this movie. I just wish that this movie does not remain a must-watch movie alone. It needs to be a must-act movie like Swades. A great effort by Aamir and Amol. I must thank them for putting a story on celluloid, something which was long over-due!!