Taare
Zameen Par
Introduction:
“Taare Zameen par” is a Bollywood film directed and
produced by Amir Khan. It surrounds a story of a kid of 8-9 years. He is
suffering from a psychological disease ‘dyslexia’. No one around him can
recognize him that he is a slow learner. All teachers and specially his father
behave him very bad by giving him punishment. He has the problem of identifying
the words and therefore he cannot read and write properly. After several
complain from the school and building, his frustrated father decides to send
him boarding school to ‘be disciplined’. There he
sinks into a state of fear and depression. But his internal world is rich
with wonders that he is unable to convey to others,
magical lands filled with colors and animated animals. He is an artist whose
talent is unrecognized. At boarding school, a new art teacher gets worried to
see the condition of the boy. After investigating, he comes to know the actual
reason and attempts to make him brilliant. He teaches him using different
techniques which he can understand. In a very short interval, the kid learns
everything even reading and writing, and in the ending of year, he gets high
grades in his class.
Why I Selected this Film:
Let’s make one thing clear that
‘Taare Zameen par’ is not one of those films that merely entertains, but also
lightens. It is one film that makes you peep into a child’s mind and how some
parents, in their desire to make their children stronger academically, forget
that there’s also a hidden talent that needs to be nourished and encouraged. A
film can change the thinking, attitudes, behaviors and practice of people much
faster than any other technique. So, I select this film to inform the parents
that don’t force your ambitions onto the delicate shoulders of children, it’s
worse than child labor. It is also about the teaching technique of the teachers
in our educational system that needs to be improved.
Plot:
The film starts with the scene of
Ishaan in which he was showed in capturing the fish with a different style.
Actually he is unable to read and write properly. The words seem to him like
dancing. He gets furious at a bit little things. His parents receive complains
from building and from school daily. And after receiving a particularly poor
academic report, Ishaan's parents send him to a boarding school. This is the
extreme point of plot, the separation of son and mother. There he sinks into a
state of fear and depression, despite of being befriended by Rajan who is one of the top students in his
class. His interest in the study is the same as before. He is punished by an
art teacher on the very first day for being not attentive. Ishaan's situation
changes when a new art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh joins the school's faculty.
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 that 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 were 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 organizes 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 with his parents for summer
vacations, he turns around and runs toward Nikumbh. The film ends with a freeze
frame shot of Nikumbh tossing Ishaan into the air.
Characters:
1.
Ishaan Nandkishore
Awasthi
A boy of 8-9 years is
protagonist. Whose character changes in the end of movie when he has learnt
reading and writing. He plays role as a student who is suffering from a
psychological disease. He is an artist whose talent is unrecognized. It is a
round character.
2.
Nandkishore Awasthi
Ishaan's father, Nandkishore Awasthi is a successful executive
who expects his children to excel. He has his full attention towards his job.
He don’t know what his children want and how should he care for them. He wants
his son to become a brilliant student but how? He doesn’t know. He is a round
character whose mindset is changed by the speeches of sir Nikumbh. It is
antagonist in this film.
3.
Ram Shankar Nikumbh
A teacher joins the school's faculty temporarily when the art
teacher goes on a visit to New Zealand. He is basically an instructor at the
Tulips School for young children with developmental disabilities. Nikumbh's
teaching style is markedly different from the other teachers. He says to
students to draw on the page whatever comes in their minds. According to him, arts’
purpose is to give expression of the inter most emotions and feelings. The
dialogue of him that I like the most is;
“dunya mein aisay aisay heeray peda hue jinhun ne dunya ka
naqsha badal diya, q k wo dunya ko alag nazar se dekhtay thy. Dimag un k zra
hat k thy, aas paas waloun se bardasht nhi hua, taklifain khari kr dein. Lekin
is k bawjood wo jiitay rhay or aisay jiye k dunya dekhti reh gai”. He is a flat
character that remains the same till the end of the movie.
4.
Yohaan Awasthi
He is elder brother of
Ishaan Awasthi and an intelligent boy who always stands first in every class
and a good player of tennis. He has great love with Ishaan and grants him with
gifts sometimes. It is a flat character.
5.
Maya Awasthi
She is the mother of
Ishaan and a house-wife who left her job just for her children, just to pay
proper attention on them. She wakes up early in the morning and remains busy
throughout the day in the domestic tasks. The bonding of love between the son
and the mother is remarkable.
Many other characters like Rajan Damodran, teachers
and principals of schools, Nikumbh’s friend, and other kids in the building are
also present in this movie but I don’t think so that they have much importance
to be described. They don’t have much link with plot.
Songs:
Songs
have a strong relation with the plot of the movie. The song in the beginning of
the film is "Jame Raho",
its musical sequence establishes the characters of the four members of Ishaan's
family; for example, the father is hardworking guy, and Yohaan is an ideal son
who does all the right things. A robotic style of music is reflected by the
machine-like morning routines of the mother, father, and Yohaan. But sudden
change in sequence for Ishaan's portion shows that he is different from the
rest.
The second song “Mera Jahan”
is not much important for the plot. I did not enjoy it because it is too long,
did not make sense, and merely showed ‘touristy’ visuals of Mumbai. It is
played when one day he leaves the school after realizing that his mother did
not sign the math failed test.
When his parents leave him in boarding school, the song plays at that
moment brought tears in my eyes.
“Main kbhi batlata nhi, per andheray se
darta hun main Maa,
Yun
to main dikhlata nhi teri parwah krta hun main Maa,
Tujhay
sb hai pta….. Hai na Maa…??
Bheerh
mein yun na choro mujhy, ghr aa na paon main Maa,
Bhej
na mujh ko door tu, yaad b tujh ko aa na paon Maa,
Kia
itna bura hun main Maa….??”
The third
song ‘Bum Bum Bole’ is also an
inspirational song. In which, some sentences I like the most are;
“Who says fish don’t fly..?
Ever
thought of it.?
Does
the Sun bathe every day?
Or
does he just wet his hair and pretend to be clean..?
These
stars, are they twinkling..?
Or
in anger, grumbling at each other?
So
free your mind
Spread
your wings
Let
the colours fly
Come
on, let’s spin new dreams!”
The song “Taare Zameen Par” follows the theme of
"however much you talk about children, it's not enough." Every line
throughout the song describes children, and only one repeats: "Kho Naa Jaaye Yeh / Taare Zameen Par".
Conclusion:
This movie is actually a criticism on the teachers and parents and
gives some important messages for them. Parents force their ambitions onto the
delicate shoulders of their children and they don’t bear the load and becomes
unsuccessful and faces punishment from every side. Parents should understand
that every child has its own abilities. They should acknowledge the area of
interest of the children and then should provide them proper guidance.
The role of parents shown in the film is a typical role existing in
our society, may be in different form. For instance most fathers believe that
they are responsible for earning money and therefore the internal
responsibility of the house including child development is of the wife. This is
a very dangerous notion, because the children may develop an indifferent
attitude towards their fathers.
Parents should be very careful and try not to make the child realise
as if he/she is a burden on them, this affects the self-esteem of the child. A
mother being with their children all the time is not giving quality time rather
a mother who even spends less time but is of quality is much more important.
Another critical situation is presented in the film that is comparison
of the two brothers, a reality existing in our society. It’s not fair. Children
are very different from each other; even twins have got different abilities
which need to be tackled differently. Praising one child in front of the other
and stating that the other is so duffer, creates many psychological problems
for the child as it stops the personality development, and affects the
self-esteem which many lead to failure in life.
The role of the traditional teachers shown is an eye opener to our
society. We should move away with it. In afraid of getting punishment students
cram their lesson without clearing their concepts. But on the other hand, the
role of new art teacher is quite different. Can we imagine this role of
teachers in our schools? All teachers believe that all students have same
ability in a class and teaching one student is same for all therefore whatever
one student learns in the class should be learnt by all equally well. Is this a
right belief? Even teachers blame students, “that stands first in the class and
learns all material I give, do I teach him/her differently?”
Another thing is our educational system is that the strength of a
class is 70-80 but one teacher is there to teach all of them. Is this possible
to have equal attention to all students at a time? Obviously it is not.
The teacher’s attitude towards student should be friendly and
nonthreatening, therefore the students are able to follow the instruction and
share their problems easily. I hope that if the parents, teachers
and other educationist change their mindset, thinking and also the educational
system, then our society will be progressive and it will produce the diamonds
that will change the history of the
world.
