Taare Zameen Par

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Directed by Aamir Khan, Amole Gupte (creative director), Ram Madhvani ("Bheja Kum")

Produced by Aamir Khan

Written by Amole Gupte

Starring - Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tisca Chopra, Vipin Sharma, Sachet Engineer, Tanay Chheda

Music by Score: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi

Cinematography Setu

Editing by Deepa Bhatia

Release date(s) 21 December 2007

Running time 164 minutes

Country India

Language Hindi & English

Film official web-site - http://www.taarezameenpar.com/

Taare Zameen Par, reissued as Like Stars on Earth for Disney's international DVD, is a 2007 Indian drama film directed by Aamir Khan. Creative Director and writer Amole Gupte initially developed the idea with his wife Deepa Bhatia, who served as the film's editor. Visual effects were created by Tata Elxsi's Visual Computing Labs, and the title animation—the first use of claymation in a Bollywood film—was created by Dhimant Vyas. Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composed the film's score, and Prasoon Joshi wrote the lyrics for many of the songs. Principal photography took place in Mumbai and in Panchgani's New Era High School, and some of the school's students make appearances.

The film explores the life and imagination of eight-year-old Ishaan (Darsheel Safary). Although he excels in art, his poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school. Ishaan's new art teacher (Aamir Khan) suspects that he is dyslexic, and helps him to overcome his disability. The film made its theatrical debut in India on 21 December 2007, and UTV Home Entertainment released a DVD for Indian audiences in 2008. Disney's release of the international edition DVD in 2010 marked the first purchase of distribution rights for an Indian film by a global company.

Taare Zameen Par has received numerous awards, including the Filmfare Best Film Award for 2008 and the 2008 National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. It was India's official entry for the 2009 Academy Awards Best Foreign Film, and the film's failure to progress to the nominations short list sparked a debate about why no Indian film has ever won an Oscar. Media outlets made comparisons between Taare Zameen Par and the British drama Slumdog Millionaire, which won several Oscars that same year.

Plot

Ishaan Nandkishore Awasthi (Darsheel Safary) is an eight-year-old boy who dislikes school and fails every test or exam. He finds all subjects difficult, and is belittled by his teachers and classmates. But Ishaan's internal world is rich with wonders that he is unable to convey to others, magical lands filled with colour and animated animals. He is an artist whose talent is unrecognised.

Ishaan's father, Nandkishore Awasthi (Vipin Sharma), is a successful executive who expects his children to excel. His mother, housewife Maya Awasthi (Tisca Chopra), is frustrated by her inability to educate her son. Ishaan's elder brother, Yohaan (Sachet Engineer), is an exemplary scholar and athlete, which Ishaan is frequently reminded of.

After receiving a particularly poor academic report, Ishaan's parents send him to a boarding school. There he sinks into a state of fear and depression, despite being befriended by Rajan (Tanay Chheda), physically disabled and one of the top students in his class. Ishaan's situation changes when a new art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), joins the school's faculty. An instructor at the Tulips School for young children with developmental disabilities, Nikumbh's teaching style is markedly different from that of his strict predecessor, and he quickly observes that Ishaan is unhappy and contributes little to class activities. He reviews Ishaan's work and concludes that his academic shortcomings are indicative of dyslexia. On his day off, Nikumbh visits Ishaan's parents and asks if he can see more of their son's work. He is stunned by the sophistication of one of Ishaan's paintings, and tells his parents that Ishaan is a bright child who processes information differently from other children in his class, but Ishaan's father is suspicious that the explanation is simply an excuse for his son's poor performance. Nikumbh demands that he read some Japanese text on a box and berates him when he cannot, giving him a glimpse into Ishaan's experience of school. Nikumbh describes dyslexia to them and explains that it is not a sign of low intelligence. He tells them he can provide extra tutoring that will help Ishaan, highlighting the boy's artistic ability evident in his many paintings and other creative works.

Nikumbh subsequently brings up the topic of dyslexia in class, and offers a list of famous people who are considered dyslexic. As the students are leaving the classroom, Nikumbh asks Ishaan to remain behind and reveals to him that he too experienced the same difficulties with dyslexia. Nikumbh then visits the school's principal and obtains his permission to become Ishaan's tutor. He attempts to improve Ishaan's reading and writing by using remedial techniques developed by dyslexia specialists; Ishaan soon develops an interest in language and mathematics, and his grades improve.

Towards the end of the school year Nikumbh organises an art fair for the staff and students. The competition is judged by artist Lalita Lajmi. Ishaan, with his strikingly creative style, is declared the winner and Nikumbh, who paints Ishaan's portrait, the runner-up. The principal announces that Nikumbh has been hired as the school's permanent art teacher. When Ishaan's parents meet his teachers on the last day of school they are left speechless by the transformation they see in him. Overcome with emotion, Ishaan's father thanks Nikumbh. As Ishaan is getting into the car to leave with his parents, he turns around and runs toward Nikumbh. The film ends with a freeze frame shot of Nikumbh tossing Ishaan into the air.

Cast

• Darsheel Safary as Ishaan Awasthi: In looking for an actor to play the central figure of Ishaan, writer Amole Gupte turned to Shiamak Davar's Summer Funk workshops. Gupte had several boys informally audition by explaining to him how they would react to scripted situations from the film. Of his decision to cast Darsheel Safary, Gupte recalls that "it was a tough call. But Darsheel has the mischief in his eyes to be Ishaan. Everyone just naturally gravitated towards him."
• Aamir Khan as Ram Shankar Nikumbh ("Nikumbh Sir"): Gupte, who based the character on his art teacher Ramdas Sampat Nikumbh, initially asked Akshaye Khanna to play the role.
• Tisca Chopra as Maya Awasthi ("Maa"): Ishaan's mother, who gave up her career to raise her children. Chopra tended to speak softly during filming and was subsequently required to re-record some scenes using automated dialogue replacement.
• Vipin Sharma as Nandkishore Awasthi ("Papa"): Ishaan's "strict, hard, dominating father". Part of the reason for Sharma's casting was his "extremely strong and dominating" face that "exudes harshness." Described by Khan as "naturally polite" and sensitive, Sharma was instructed to lower his voice to sound "harsh" and "dominating".
• Girija Oak as Jabeen,Nikumbh's Co-worker
• Sachet Engineer as Yohaan Awasthi ("Dada"): Ishaan's elder brother.
• Tanay Chheda as Rajan Damodran.
• Bugs Bhargava and Shankar Sachdev as Sen Sir and Tiwari Sir: Two teachers at New Era whose attitude towards Ishaan softens as his grades improve and he wins the art contest. The roles are caricatures of teachers in general.
• M. K. Raina as the principal of New Era High School.
• Lalita Lajmi as herself: Taare Zameen Par was Lajmi's first experience as an actress.

Development

The husband and wife team of Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia developed the story that would eventually become Taare Zameen Par as a way of understanding why some children cannot conform to a conventional educational system. Their initial work began as a short story that evolved into a screenplay over seven years. Deepa Bhatia later stated in an interview with The Hindu that her original inspiration was not dyslexia but rather the childhood of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who performed poorly in school. Her goal was thus to explore the story of "a child who did not fit into the school stream." She referenced a specific moment in Kurosawa's biography where he began to excel after meeting an attentive art teacher, and noted that this scene "became the inspiration for how a teacher could transform the life of a student".

In developing the character of a young boy based on Kurosawa, Bhatia and Gupte explored some possible reasons why he failed in school. Their research led them to groups such as the Maharashtra Dyslexia Association and Parents for a Better Curriculum for the Child (PACE). Dyslexia eventually became the central topic and theme of the film. The pair worked with dyslexic children to research and develop the screenplay, basing characters and situations on their observations. Bhatia and Gupte carefully concealed the children's identities in the final version of the script.

Khan and Gupte first met in college. Khan has said that he admired Gupte's abilities as an actor, writer, and painter. Three years before the film's release Gupte brought Khan to the project as a producer and actor. Gupte himself was to direct, but the first week's dailies were a great disappointment to Khan, who "lost faith in Amol and his capability of translating on screen what he had so beautifully written on paper". Khan was on the verge of withdrawing his participation in the film because of these "creative differences", but Gupte kept him onboard by stepping down as director. Had it been necessary to hire a third party, production would have been postponed for 6–8 months as the new director prepared for the film. Keen to keep Safary as Ishaan—the actor might have aged too much for the part had production been delayed—Khan took over the role of director. Taare Zameen Par was Khan's first experience in the dual role of actor and director. He has admitted that the transition was challenging, stating that while he had always wanted to direct a film, it was unknown territory for him. Gupte remained on set, "guiding [Khan] and, at times, even correcting [him]".

Children

Real schoolchildren participated throughout the movie's filming. Khan credited them with the film's success, and was reportedly very popular with them. Furthermore, Khan placed a high priority on the day-to-day needs of his child actors, and went to great lengths to attend to them. The production staff made sure that the students were never idle, and always kept them occupied outside of filming. New Era Faculty Coordinator Douglas Lee thought the experience not only helped the children to learn patience and cooperation, but also gave them a better understanding of how they should behave towards children like Ishaan who have problems in school. Because filming at New Era High School occurred during the winter holiday, those portraying Ishaan's classmates gave up their vacation to participate. To fill out the campus background, students from nearby schools were also brought in. A total of 1,500 children were used for wide-shots of the film's art-fair climax; medium shots only required 400 students.

New to acting, the children often made errors such as staring into the camera, and Khan resorted to unorthodox methods to work around their rookie mistakes. For example, an early scene in the film featured a school assembly; Khan wanted the students to act naturally and to ignore the principal's speech, but recognised that this would be a difficult feat with cameras present. First Assistant Director Sunil Pandey spoke continuously in an attempt to "bore the hell out of [them]", and they eventually lost interest in the filming and behaved normally. A later scene involved Nikumbh enlightening his class about famous people who suffer from dyslexia, and the children's responses to his speech were the last portion to be filmed. Having already spent 3–4 days hearing the dialogue the children's reactions were "jaded". Khan opted to film them while he recited a tale, and manipulated his storytelling to achieve the varying spontaneous reactions. The following scene had the children playing around a nearby pond. Horrified when he learned that the water was 15 feet (4.6 m) deep, Khan recruited four lifeguards in case a child fell in.

Khan found it important that the audience connect the film to real children, and had Pandey travel throughout India filming documentary-style footage of children from all walks of life. Those visuals were integrated into the end credits.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/

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