Taare Zameen Par

About the film

Taare Zameen Par (lit. 'Stars on the Earth'), also known as Like Stars on Earth in English, is a 2007 Indian Hindi-language psychological drama film produced and directed by Aamir Khan (in his directorial debut). It stars Khan, with Darsheel Safary, Tanay Chheda, Vipin Sharma and Tisca Chopra. It explores the life and imagination of Ishaan (Safary), an artistically gifted 8-year-old boy whose poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school, where a new art teacher Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) suspects that he is dyslexic and helps him to overcome his reading disorder. The film focuses on raising awareness about dyslexia in children.

Creative director and writer Amole Gupte developed the idea with his wife Deepa Bhatia, who was the film's editor. Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composed the 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, where some of the school's students participated in the filming.

Plot

Ishaan is an 8-year-old boy living in Mumbai, who has trouble following school. He is assumed by all to simply hate learning and deemed a troublemaker, and is belittled for it. He has even repeated the 3rd standard due to his academic failures from the previous year. Ishaan's imagination, creativity and talent for art and painting are often disregarded. Ishaan's father, Nandkishore Awasthi, is a successful executive who expects his sons to excel. His mother, Maya, is a homemaker who gave up her career and is frustrated by her inability to educate Ishaan. His elder brother Yohaan is an exemplary student and tennis player in whose shadow Ishaan remains, though he is the most supportive of Ishaan.

One day, his parents are called by the principal to discuss his behavior and grades. Due to Ishaan's failures, lack of improvement and rebellious behavior, the principal suggests they look into special schools, but Nandkishore rejects this and sends him to a boarding school despite Maya and Yohaan's protests. Alone there, Ishaan rapidly sinks into a state of fear, anxiety and depression, which is only worsened by the teachers' strict and abusive regime. Ishaan's only friend is Rajan Damodaran, a physically disabled boy who is one of the top students and resides with his family there, as his father is part of the school's board. Ishaan contemplates suicide one day, but Rajan intervenes and stops him. Rajan subsequently informs Ishaan that Mr. Holkar, the boarding school's strict and abusive art teacher, has left and is being replaced by someone else.

Ram Shankar Nikumbh, a young, cheerful and optimistic instructor at the Tulips School for young children with developmental disabilities, joins as the boarding school's temporary art teacher the same day, replacing Mr. Holkar. Ram's teaching style is markedly different from Holkar's, and he quickly notes Ishaan's unhappiness after Ishaan fails to draw anything during the class. Ram reviews Ishaan's work and concludes that his academic shortcomings are indicative of dyslexia. Ram then visits Ishaan's house in Mumbai, where he is surprised to discover Ishaan's hidden interest in art. Ram demonstrates to Maya and Yohaan how Ishaan has extreme difficulty in understanding letters and words due to dyslexia and his trouble in sports stems from his poor motor ability (which also applies to his difficulty in tying shoelaces and judging the size, speed and distance of a ball). However, Nandkishore labels it as an intellectual disability (as well as an excuse) and dismisses it as laziness, much to Ram's frustration.

Production

The husband and wife team of Amole Gupte and Deepa Bhatia developed the story that eventually became Taare Zameen Par as a way of understanding why some children could not conform to a conventional educational system. Their work began as a short story that evolved into a screenplay over seven years. Bhatia said in an interview with The Hindu that her original inspiration was the childhood of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, who did poorly in school. She cited a specific place in Kurosawa's biography where he began to excel after meeting an attentive art teacher, and said that it "became the inspiration for how a teacher could transform the life of a student".

While 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 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. Gupte originally envisioned Akshaye Khanna as Ram and hoped that Khan could put him in touch with Khanna, since Khan and Khanna had recently collaborated in Dil Chahta Hai (2001). However, this changed after Khan expressed interest in playing the role. Gupte himself was to direct, but the first week's dailies were a great disappointment to Khan, who "lost faith in Amole 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 on board by stepping down as director. Contrary to Khan's claim, Gupte lashed out saying that after the wrap-up party, Khan announced that he was the director of the film, despite Gupte acting as the 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 …

Key details