Taare zamin par

Taare zameen par is not a movie just about dyslexia. Yes. It does talk about dyslexia, and, how those of us not affected by it see the world differently. More importantly it tells us how, whether as a dyslexic or not, all of us remain trapped in a world of our creation.

Dyslexia is most commonly characterized by difficulties with learning how to decode at the word level, to spell, and to read accurately and fluently.

What is important is that dyslexia does not result in low intelligence, and, this is the first point the movie makes. Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci were dyslexic, and, in a very telling scene, the art teacher Nikumb (Aamir Khan) shows the children how the written word would have looked so different to Leonardo, by writing it in mirror version form and then holding up a mirror for them to read it. Such a beautiful way to teach...

Ishaan, the young eight year old protagonist of the film, is struggling his way through grade 3, for the second time, and, it looks like he will not make it to grade 4, once again. His elder brother, Yohan, is the parents’ dream, studious, focussed and topping every single exam.

The sheer Bombay middle classness of the lives of Mr and Mrs Awasthi, the parents of Ishaan and Yohan, is portrayed excellently by Vipin Sharma and Tisca Chopra. Caught in the social conditioning of competitiveness compounded by the ‘success’ of their elder child, they struggle to find a solution for Ishaan. The father reacts angrily when the school teacher tells him, ‘…some children are not so lucky…’ He says, ‘Is my child a retard ?’ and you have to grow up in middle class India to know what the import of that statement means. It means that somewhere as a parent, as a family you have failed…failed beyond hope and, or, redemption. Remember that this is a country where nearly 200,000 students take the annual Common Admission Test (like the GMAT) for admission to the 2,000 or so places at the country's business schools...no retards tolerated...

Convinced that it is the child’s ‘attitude’ Ishaan is packed off to a boarding school as his mother looks on, in middle class feminine helplessness.

The boarding school stands for all that is miserable about the way we educate children. On arrival, Ishaan and his parents are greeted by the teacher who tells them, ‘Don’t worry. We have tamed many wild horses here…’ Almost sounds like a Madam dealing with an unwilling entrant to her brothel, rather than a teacher. And what follows is brothel keeper like treatment by teachers who demand submission and reward any deviation from it with corporal punishment. As expected, Ishaan goes into almost catotonic state, extremely well portrayed by the young Darsheel Safary.

And into this horrific place known as a school, dances Nikumb Sir, the temporary art teacher, substituting for the art teacher who has left for New Zealand. Himself, a dyslexic, Nikumb Sir, recognizes what Ishaan is going through. With the experience born of knowing where the shoe pinches and compassion born of the desire to love, he coaxes the child out of the near-catatonic state into a free flowing expression of the world as Ishaan sees it, aka art.

Yes. The movie talks about dyslexia. More importantly it talks about how we do not see any choice but to accept the social definition of success as mirrored in grades, academic honours and accomplishment. There is a catatonia in our lives, a settting in of a pathological form of rigidity that refuses to let us see that the world can look different to anyone. And, when we let go of that rigidity we move away from the world of linear achievement to that of warmth, love and affection.

The punch line of the movie comes in the story Nikumb Sir (Aamir Khan) tells Mr. Awasthi of how the original inhabitants of the Solomon Islands kill a tree. Watch the movie to hear this story and how it reflects what we do to abilities that are different.