TZP and a new star is born on the horizon
There are some incidents that happen in your life whose impact can last only a wink, some that last a short while like few days or months and then there are those whose impact lasts years if not a lifetime. Tare Zameen Par, the recent movie from Amir Khan which incidentally also happens to be his first directorial debut is just one such movie. I’m sure, this is one movie whose impact wouldn’t fade on me in a long while and my admiration would only grow if I see it again.
Sometimes you come might come across a simple movie without the usual fanfare, masala, pomp and glory and yet it goes all the way to become a blockbuster. The movie leaves you with a subtle after taste and a deeply poignant effect by intricately weaving a delicate topic overlooked by most adults so often. The movie also establishes Amir Khan’s transition from an actor to a full time director and producer. This movie also vindicates his metamorphosis from a young hep college kid actor into a mature director & actor.
While many adults may be oblivious to the central theme of the movie, nevertheless many of us may have experienced it partly during our years of school or even college. The story revolves around a dyslexic boy Ishant (Darsheel) whose parents refuse to acknowledge his problem. The boy endures a lot of suffering and pain as a result of this until he is rescued by his art teacher Nikunj (Amir Khan).
Personally for me, the movie has been very emotional and moving, gushing out profuse feelings of tenderness and sympathy toward the protagonist. This was despite the fact that the role portrayed by him was far in contrast to my own personal life experience and yet I felt a connection so deep with that character deep down within me. It was as if there was a part of me that was going through the same tear jerking experience as the protagonist. A sudden deluge of emotions struck me - the agony of suffering silently, the grief & anguish of being disadvantaged, the torment & bitterness of being labeled a loser, the grief of failure, the frustration when loved ones fail to understand, the shock & confusion when loved ones seem to hate you, the pain & heartache when loved ones leave you in your most needed hour, the trauma & torture of relentless punishment for no fault and last but not the least the feeling of loneliness and helplessness of fighting all alone against the whole world. I knew I was not the protagonist and neither had I ever experienced what this kid had gone through and yet I knew I had a strong bond with this character, a deep innate connection. Something within me was creating this strong affinity towards him, a deep feeling of empathy and compassion toward him, toward me, toward his parents, toward my parents and toward our society.
The movie flooded me with a spate of questions about our expectations, parent’s expectations and expectations of society from individual lives. Why are we as a society so hell driven on competition and achievement? Why do we not learn to accept reality? Why do we live in the hallucinated world of denial? Why should a rigid inflexible system always be considered superior to our very own human side? Why do we always compare ourselves with others, why not with ourselves? Why should others define our own benchmark? Why should we be a slave to the perception of others?
This reminds me of Howard Roark from the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. But nevertheless I think we permit society to define far too many rules for us without thinking about the appropriateness of the spirit or the context. Living in a society does usually come with a burden of accepting certain unwritten rules & customs, but we should never deprive ourselves of the freedom of thought and of listening to our heart and conscience.
There have been innumerable instances in India where young students have been driven to suicide and nervous breakdowns due to the unreasonable pressure they are subjected to by parents, teachers and the entire system. This is appalling and dangerous to our society as a whole. Where is this mad world heading to? What are we trying to achieve in this mad rush? “What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?” – by Henry Davies sums up our modern life. In our rush to outdo the competition in our society, we are so fiercely driven into competition in school, in exams, in college, in university, in work and ultimately in life itself that we have no time to live. Just race, race and race. And then one day, long afterwards when we cannot race anymore we realize that we have never walked or stood, never bothered to gaze at the road we’re running on, never had time to pick up pebbles along the path and now there’s nothing left to pick up.
Darsheel and Amir have done their roles fabulously well. Ishant has done his role so flawlessly, I’m pretty sure he’ll do pretty well in Bollywood in future. A new star to watch out for. Amir has played the role of the sensitive teacher so well, I wish if most teachers were only half as sensitive as Nikunj, we would be having probably half as many dropouts in our schools. Parents can take a leaf out of this movie and that is to listen to their children and be sensitive to their feelings. Living in a world of denial would never do anyone any good. While everyone expects their children to be the best, expectations should be driven primarily by interest. Parents would be better off fostering interest than putting them under the pressure of unreasonable expectations.
On the whole it is a good movie to watch and one that I would recommend every parent should definitely watch. I did recommend it to my mom and managed to pester her enough to watch it :)
Sometimes you come might come across a simple movie without the usual fanfare, masala, pomp and glory and yet it goes all the way to become a blockbuster. The movie leaves you with a subtle after taste and a deeply poignant effect by intricately weaving a delicate topic overlooked by most adults so often. The movie also establishes Amir Khan’s transition from an actor to a full time director and producer. This movie also vindicates his metamorphosis from a young hep college kid actor into a mature director & actor.
While many adults may be oblivious to the central theme of the movie, nevertheless many of us may have experienced it partly during our years of school or even college. The story revolves around a dyslexic boy Ishant (Darsheel) whose parents refuse to acknowledge his problem. The boy endures a lot of suffering and pain as a result of this until he is rescued by his art teacher Nikunj (Amir Khan).
Personally for me, the movie has been very emotional and moving, gushing out profuse feelings of tenderness and sympathy toward the protagonist. This was despite the fact that the role portrayed by him was far in contrast to my own personal life experience and yet I felt a connection so deep with that character deep down within me. It was as if there was a part of me that was going through the same tear jerking experience as the protagonist. A sudden deluge of emotions struck me - the agony of suffering silently, the grief & anguish of being disadvantaged, the torment & bitterness of being labeled a loser, the grief of failure, the frustration when loved ones fail to understand, the shock & confusion when loved ones seem to hate you, the pain & heartache when loved ones leave you in your most needed hour, the trauma & torture of relentless punishment for no fault and last but not the least the feeling of loneliness and helplessness of fighting all alone against the whole world. I knew I was not the protagonist and neither had I ever experienced what this kid had gone through and yet I knew I had a strong bond with this character, a deep innate connection. Something within me was creating this strong affinity towards him, a deep feeling of empathy and compassion toward him, toward me, toward his parents, toward my parents and toward our society.
The movie flooded me with a spate of questions about our expectations, parent’s expectations and expectations of society from individual lives. Why are we as a society so hell driven on competition and achievement? Why do we not learn to accept reality? Why do we live in the hallucinated world of denial? Why should a rigid inflexible system always be considered superior to our very own human side? Why do we always compare ourselves with others, why not with ourselves? Why should others define our own benchmark? Why should we be a slave to the perception of others?
This reminds me of Howard Roark from the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. But nevertheless I think we permit society to define far too many rules for us without thinking about the appropriateness of the spirit or the context. Living in a society does usually come with a burden of accepting certain unwritten rules & customs, but we should never deprive ourselves of the freedom of thought and of listening to our heart and conscience.
There have been innumerable instances in India where young students have been driven to suicide and nervous breakdowns due to the unreasonable pressure they are subjected to by parents, teachers and the entire system. This is appalling and dangerous to our society as a whole. Where is this mad world heading to? What are we trying to achieve in this mad rush? “What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?” – by Henry Davies sums up our modern life. In our rush to outdo the competition in our society, we are so fiercely driven into competition in school, in exams, in college, in university, in work and ultimately in life itself that we have no time to live. Just race, race and race. And then one day, long afterwards when we cannot race anymore we realize that we have never walked or stood, never bothered to gaze at the road we’re running on, never had time to pick up pebbles along the path and now there’s nothing left to pick up.
Darsheel and Amir have done their roles fabulously well. Ishant has done his role so flawlessly, I’m pretty sure he’ll do pretty well in Bollywood in future. A new star to watch out for. Amir has played the role of the sensitive teacher so well, I wish if most teachers were only half as sensitive as Nikunj, we would be having probably half as many dropouts in our schools. Parents can take a leaf out of this movie and that is to listen to their children and be sensitive to their feelings. Living in a world of denial would never do anyone any good. While everyone expects their children to be the best, expectations should be driven primarily by interest. Parents would be better off fostering interest than putting them under the pressure of unreasonable expectations.
On the whole it is a good movie to watch and one that I would recommend every parent should definitely watch. I did recommend it to my mom and managed to pester her enough to watch it :)
posted by Kams at
11:51 AM
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