Taare Zameen Par - A Truly Extraordinary Performance by Darsheel Safary
Rating: 9/10
Finally, a movie that lives up to, and on some fronts, even exceeds, expectations. I occasionally visit Aamir Khan’s blog, and he comes across as an extremely down-to-earth, classy, open-minded guy. In fact, his nervousness about the public reaction to his movies is quite palpable, and so is his dedication to doing things right. Well, Aamir can now relax and breathe, because reviews and comments on the web and the audience reaction at Fame Malad – where I watched it – have been overwhelmingly positive. Taare Zameen Par is a movie brimming with so much positive attitude that it would take a rock-hard hearted cynic to scoff at it.
It’s as if fate pushed me to watch this movie on the first day itself. My brother and I decided at 9.55 that we would watch the 10.50 show. We reached Fame at 10.35. I was sure we wouldn’t get tickets. There were about four people in each of the queues. Just as the last couple in front of us reached the ticket window, they were suddenly afflicted with indecisionitis over which movie to watch. While they hemmed and hawed, my bro leapt to the window and took the tickets, and whaddayaknow – they were the last two!
I’ve only seen one TV promo of Taare Zameen Par, and it’s very much in the correct tone of the movie. Of course, the story is about the younger boy, Ishaan, who’s a very imaginative and intelligent boy, except that he seems to have extreme difficulties in reading and writing. Everyone’s frustrated by his apparently stubborn resolve not to learn anything. The only thing he’s good at is painting.
We see Ishaan get into all kinds of scrapes, with neighbourhood kids, with the maths teacher, with the English teacher and with a surprise maths test. As a last resort, his father packs him off to a boarding school. It should be obvious that Aamir Khan’s character, art teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh, meets him there and understands his true problems and potential.
How’s Aamir Khan the director?
My answer – better than Aamir Khan the actor. I definitely expected TZP to be well directed, not because of Aamir Khan’s resume as an actor, but because of the intelligence that shines through in his blogs. Aamir really knows what he’s doing. His pacing, apart from a little bit of flab around the midsection, is amazingly appropriate. The first half is just a breeze. About 10-15 minutes could be removed from the middle portion, in my humble opinion. But that’s just me. I’m sure 90% of the public will have no issues with that. Many people have been moved to tears, especially during the climax. Even I had to control myself.
Allegations are aplenty that Aamir ghost-directs his films. If TZP is any indication, it’s probably true, and it’s not a bad thing. My heartiest congratulations to the hottest debutante of the year! Furthermore, Aamir had the guts to bankroll this production, a very brave move, considering that films about challenged people are considered box-office emptiers. He’d said in an interview that he’d be heartbroken if TZP doesn’t do well, but I think there’s absolutely no chance of that happening. Everyone’s recommending it to everyone, so Aamir can rest assured. TZP looks set to reaffirm my belief that tight films, with great scripts and solid acting, made within sensible budgets, will at least recover their costs. Thanks a lot, Aamir.
Where did he find this genius of a kid?
Genius! Natural! Awesome talent! It’s tough to find words for the out-of-this-world Darsheel Safary. You’re probably thinking I’m exaggerating, right? I mean, how good can a kid be at acting? Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought. How good can he be? Hindi film kids are usually the oversmart irritating types whom you want to rap on the head when their parents aren’t looking. Watch TZP, I’m telling you! You need to see this kid with your own eyes. What range! What subtlety! How natural! There’s not a SINGLE false note in Darsheel Safary’s performance. If TZP works, it’s entirely because of him. His young shoulders easily carry the load of keeping hundreds of us engaged throughout the first half; Aamir doesn’t even appear until the interval, which just goes to show the tremendous faith he had in Darsheel as an actor and himself as a director. I’ll even stick my neck out and say that Darsheel outshines even Aamir himself. I wonder how many hundred children were checked out before Darsheel appeared and blew everyone away. (PS: Just found out Amole Gupte checked out over 5,000 children!!!!!!) I don’t think there could’ve been even a second or third best. Darsheel Safary jumps to #1 on my list of best performances of the year. Pawan Malhotra in Black Friday was the previous champ, in case you wanted to know. I’ll be putting up my list of favourite movies and performances of 2007 soon. Only Welcome is left to watch, although I doubt I’ll find anything apart from a possible best comic performance in it.
Speaking of Aamir’s acting, I’d say he hasn’t really shown much variety in his roles. Except for Rangeela, Earth and the Coca-Cola ‘Paanch’ Bihari Babu ad, we’ve always seen him as a do-gooder hero, with more or less the same things to do. I really would like to see him do a Langda Tyagi. With his attention to detail, I’m sure he’ll be able to pull off a really out-of-the-way role like Captain Jack Sparrow or Forrest Gump.
Other notable things
Among the supporting performers, Tisca Chopra as the mother delivers the most natural and endearing performance. Aamir’s choice of locations has also been fabulous. I must also mention some very imaginative animated sequences, including a Spaceman Spiff-type cartoon sequence inspired by Calvin and Hobbes.
And oh yes, the music! Very rarely does film music captivate me. This year, Jab We Met and TZP have been two movies where the songs are not only beautiful but also gel well with the story instead of acting like speed-breakers. Ram Madhvani, director of the groundbreaking Let’s Talk, is credited with the direction of one song. Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics are (gee, I’ve run out of adjectives?) superb, and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy – dare I comment?
Bottomline
You might like this movie if:
(a) You like Calvin & Hobbes
(b) You have school-going kids
(c) You’re a school-going kid
(d) Oh damn! Just read the whole bloody review!
You might not like this movie if:
(a) You’re aesthetically challenged
(b) Your idea of good taste is Aap Ka Suroor
(c) You detest kids and wish you yourself had been born an adult
(d) You’re from Andromeda galaxy
PS: If you have watched the film, then you should read this blog by Amole Gupte. In the film, he's credited as writer and 'Creative Director,' but he's actually the brains and soul behind the film. Something went wrong between him and Aamir Khan, as a result of which Aamir took over the directorial reins.
PPS: I've posted a real-life incident involving Mr Anupam Kher. He narrated it during one of his acting classes with us. Read it here
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