Bollywood today is a well-oiled assembly line of showcases, churning out stereotypical love stories, ‘musicals’, ‘thrillers’, ‘murder mysteries’ and the like or mastering the art of reverse technology and offering ‘inspired’ (read unabashed) remakes of Bollywood & Hollywood and God-only-knows-which-wood classics. One really is forced to think whether Bollywood is run by humans or state-of-the-art humanoid robots, such is the beaten-to-death monotony of scripts.
But this is when a marvelous piece of art named Taare Zameen Par is eased out of the workshop of the amazing Aamir Khan. Everybody knew he was a multifaceted and extremely talented actor whose performances were punctuated with perfectionism and undeniable class, be it his Coca Cola ads in various regional Indian flavours, his first home production Lagaan or any of his performances till date, barring a few aberrations. But now we know he is an equally brilliant storyteller. TZP is a touching peek into the tortuous alleys of a mind that craves to blaze its own trail instead of militarily aligning itself with the moribund monotony of rate race philosophy. The character of Ishaan Awasthi has been extremely well conjured and portrayed, thanks to some amazing acting skills displayed by Darsheel Safary, apart from Aamir’s directorial brilliance. The Calvin-esque animations of the child’s fertile thought process and imagination are extremely entertaining. The struggle of the differently-abled child to come in terms with his existential complications, the daily rebukes from the unsentimental society and the natural knee-jerk reactions of his parents are absolutely heart-wrenching. Some frames from the film are sure to moisten the eyes of anybody made of flesh and blood. The scene where Ishaan sobs uncontrollably on his first night in the boarding school, the scene where Ishaan’s dad watches him reading the notice board, or the scene when Ishaan runs into his art teacher’s arms on winning the art competition – these are portrayals that are memorable pieces of cinematic brilliance. Perhaps the genesis of TZP has its roots in Aamir’s personal life, which gives the film an eerie semblance of reality. Shankar Ehsaan Loy have, as usual, given the film the music it demanded and deserved and have enhanced their already enviable reputation of master tune-smiths. But the icing on the cake, without doubt, is Prasoon Joshi’s lyrics writing. He may be a blue-chip adman, but he is arguably one of the best lyrics-writers in Bollywood today. His wordwheels are innovative and unconventional but immensely effective and suitable. The song that is played when Ishaan’s family leaves after admitting him at the boarding school is a highly emotive statement. All the other characters in the movie play their parts to perfection, as can be expected in an Ammir Khan product.
In a nutshell, a must-see. They don’t produce such stuff in their factories these days.
