Taare Zamin Par

Taare Zamin Par or Stars on Earth is a simple story telling with some realistic look at the parent child relationships in modern competitive India.  There is little Ishan (Darsheel Safary) who is a naughty impish boy who does not like school and his elder brother Yohan who is good at studies and also a champion at tennis.  Little Ishan does everything to avoid going to school; when he reaches school gets scolded by every teacher; he sees alphabets dancing in front of his eyes.  Yet he remains incorrigible; he bunks classes; comes back home and has bloodied brawls with neighborhood children.  

His parents decide to send him to a boarding school and enters his art teacher Ram Nikubh (Aamir Khan).  Ram analyses Ishan's problem of dyslexia and rest is a poignant tale of how Ram nutures the child while fighting with society systems and parents' stereotypical reactions to such  problems. 

The movie has some touching moments specially about relations between parent and a troubled child and about the 'concerns' of parents when dealing with such a child. 

Aamir is brilliant as usual and Darsheel really comes out as a very precocious talent.  It is a must watch film which really shows how "each child is special" if adults can see what each child is capable of.  The music is good, cinematography is artistic and colorful as the movie is really about children.  It is a pity that the film has already bowed out of the Oscars race; it would have been a worthy competitor - but now a days the world likes movies about violent life in the slums more than the problem of more innocent children. 

Rating: * * * * *