Movie Review: Taara Zameen By (Like Stars On Earth)
Introduction
Taara Zameen Par is a 2007 Indian drama film directed and produced by director-producer-actor Aamir Khan. The film has had its title republished as “Like Stars on Earth” for Disney International viewing. The film tells the life story of an eight-year-old boy named Ishaan Awasthi who has a very vivid imagination. Although he excels in art, his academic performance was reversed. He always gets red marks on his tests. This leads his parents to send him to a boarding school, the Tulip School, thinking that Ishaan would straighten out and stop being a naughty boy. However, Ishaan’s performance at Tulips School mirrors his performance at his previous school.
Meanwhile, a new art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh, comes on the scene and finds Ishaan struggling in his early life. He has been annoyed when Ishaan didn’t even paint a dot on his canvas when they ordered him to paint whatever they wanted. He tries to solve Ishaan’s problem by asking Rajan, Ishaan’s physically disabled but brilliant friend, and his fellow teachers who think Ishaan is one of those morons whose life has nowhere to go, reviewing Ishaan’s past exams. and the red markings of him, and visiting the house of Ishaan’s parents. During his visit, he finds out how Ishaan loves to paint and figures with Ishaan’s disability from Ishaan’s family. He notes it as dyslexia: a reading difficulty in phonological awareness, phonological decoding, processing speed, spelling coding, short-term auditory memory, language skills/verbal comprehension, and/or rapid naming.
Ishaan’s father, on the other hand, denies the fact and said that Nikumbh was just making excuses for Ishaan in the same way that Ishaan excuses himself to study. Nikumbh then grabs a box that had Chinese writings on it and asks Ishaan’s father to read the writings. Ishaan’s father says that he can’t read what’s written because he doesn’t recognize the letters. Nikumbh here ridicules Ishaan’s father into understanding and accepting that Ishaan is, in fact, dyslexic.
The next day, Nikumbh tries to get closer to Ishaan by telling him a story that Ishaan nervously thought was his story. Apparently in the movie, Nikumbh claims that the story was from Albert Einstein. Nikumbh then goes on to cite different famous names who were dyslexic or had learning disabilities but were still forced to do something different. Before sending the children away, Nikumbh catches Ishaan’s attention to tell him that there is another name that he did not mention: Ram Shankar Nikumbh, his name. This assumes that Nikumbh has also been dyslexic and has experienced what Ishaan was currently experiencing.
Nikumbh, who is eager to tell everyone, especially Ishaan’s family, that Ishaan should not be treated “differently” and sent to a special school for mentally challenged children, talks to the Tulips school principal. He persuades the principal to give Ishaan a chance to explore himself and regain his imagination which he draws on painting, and allows him to do work to improve Ishaan’s problems in reading and writing (literacy) and other subjects. academic. After some argument, the director agrees with Nikumbh after quoting the Oscar Wilde cliché: IN cynical He is a man who knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing..
Nikumbh continues to improve Ishaan’s ability to paint, as well as his literacy skills. After a few days, Ishaan’s father goes to visit Nikumbh and tells him that his wife read about dyslexia. Again, Nikumbh recounts his involvement through his example story from the Solomon Islands: In the Solomon Islands, when the tribes need to clear the jungle to make way for the fields, they don’t cut down the trees, they just gather and gather around it, and hurl insults at the tree, curse it. Slowly but surely, after a few days, the trees begin to wither. dies by itself. He makes it clear to Ishaan’s father that what his son needs is care. Ishaan’s father, almost teary-eyed, runs away from Nikumbh’s office and there, leaving, he discovers how much better Ishaan is. From a distance, he sees Ishaan orally reading an announcement posted on the school bulletin board. Ishaan’s father runs away tearfully, full of shame.
In the last minutes of the film he has given the penultimate event – the Painting Contest created by Nikumbh. Students, and even teachers, have been welcomed to join the competition. Nikumbh’s guru in painting, Lalita Lajmi, comes to the venue to be a guest judge. Nikumbh looks for Ishaan anywhere but can’t find him. Ishaan’s friend Rajan tells Nikumbh that he left the dormitory even before he got up. After a few moments of waiting, Ishaan appears and Nikumbh quickly approaches him with a canvas to paint on. Ishaan moves to a much more private place and starts painting.
After finishing his painting, which is an illustration of a boy looking at himself in a pond (Ishaan painted himself), he walks over to Nikumbh to show his painting. Ishaan walks to see Nikumbh’s painting and cries to see that it is he, with such joy, who Nikumbh painted on his canvas.
Before the film ends, he gives a brief glimpse of Ishaan’s parents watching IShaan’s improvement at Tulips School. They discover that Ishaan made a huge improvement in her literacy skills. Ishaan’s father, who is still on the verge of denying his lack of care for Ishaan as his father, thanks Nikumbh after all for all he has done for his son. The film ends with Ishaan running back to Nikumbh before leaving the Tulip School.
Strengths of the film
The strengths of the film range from the script itself to its direction and production, to the performances of the actors in the film. The movie is absolutely a two thumbs up. For starters, the script was very well written. Appropriate words were used to embellish the context of the film. The movie used different famous names to emphasize the point of the movie: Albert Einstein, Thomas Alva Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, and Oscar Wilde. He also used adages and clicking stories to better embellish the film’s purpose: Nikumbh quoted Tulips School director Wilde’s thinking on cynicism. The other, he told Ishaan’s father about the history of the Solomon Islands.
Music production was also done heavily. The musicality of the film gave a vivid presentation to accompany the enhancement of the film. The lyrics of the songs matched the scenes in the film, particularly the song featuring children with special needs and comparing them to “stars on earth.”
Aamir Khan’s direction and production of the film deserved a five star rating. He thought a lot about the scenes to be produced that would surely emphasize the purpose of the film and give its viewers an impact. Most of the scenes that appear in the movie, if not funny enough to laugh at, almost left the eyes of the viewers full of tears.
Finally, the great success of the film is due to its actors. The minor characters in the story, in particular Ishaan’s parents, performed well. Ishaan’s father Mr. Awasthi did a great job of playing the role of a father who is impudent and does not care about Ishaan. Ishaan’s mother, Mrs. Awasthi also did a great job of playing the role of a mother who cares a lot for Ishaan despite the mischief of her when he was a child of eight years old. Darsheel, on the other hand, who was playing the role of Ishaan Awasthi, gave a splendid performance. In fact, Darsheel is a normal boy who is very different from Ishaan, but in the movie, he seemed to be a mischievous, playful and special needs boy. The way Darsheel acted, from his eyes that spoke of a child who has been neglected or neglected to actions of his that are only apparent to a child suffering from a mental disability, earned a loud applause.
Aamir Khan, who was also the director and producer of the film, also failed to give the film a big win. Aamir Khan was undoubtedly versatile as an actor looking back on the many he’s done. Like Darsheel, Aamir Khan also acted as a teacher, who was previously dyslexic, should respond to the needs of a child who has special needs. He delivered his lines well enough to emphasize the point of him as Ishaan’s (played by Darsheel) teacher. Same with Darsheel, his eyes gave the film something to bring the viewer’s eyes together.
In general, the movie was excellent, from the production and of course to the performances of the actors.
Film weaknesses
If there were weaknesses in the movie, not even many would say that the flaws matter or affect the production of the movie. On the other hand, for film critics there was at least one flaw that the film lacked. That is the highlight of the other characters in the film. Since the main characters were Ishaan and Nikumbh, the development of the film should not have focused on them.
Conclusion
The movie was absolutely a two thumbs up. It achieved its purpose as stated in its title that “All children are special”. It wasn’t just a kids’ movie. Rather, a film intended for everyone, most especially teachers who are apparently forced to deal with students with special needs. The film could also, allegorically, have pinched and stung the hearts of people who judged children with special needs and treated them as “indifferent.” The film gave children who like Ishaan, who are mentally challenged, hope that they would be treated like normal children and receive proper care.
recommendations
The movie should have also highlighted the other characters that were part of developing the outcomes of the events of the movie.