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Taare Zameen Par (2007)
Innocent, inspiring and introspective
"Every child is an artist." -- Picasso
"The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him." -- Pablo Casals
It's a little while after intermission in the movie Taare Zameen Par. By this time we (the audience) have already seen that Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary) is a kid who's been failing his classes at day school and is mocked as an idiot by both teachers and classmates. He has now been packed and sent to a boarding school. His parents hope this will improve his grades. In the new environment, Ishaan finds it all the more harder to understand concepts that are easy for his peers. The teachers who rap on his knuckles and the rules at the school have broken into him. He has lost the zest of a kid, he's become a zombie, deaf to the world.
It's the Arts class, being taught by the temporary Arts teacher Ram Nikumbh (Aamir Khan). In the quest to understand what's been eating Ishaan, he has examined his notebooks, talked to his parents and discovered that the silent pupil in his class might be dyslexic. In this class, he starts to tell a story to the students. "Once upon a time, there was a kid. He had trouble understanding numbers and alphabets. He couldn't read, write and study like his classmates." He pauses, then asks "Do you know whom I'm talking about?" The camera now slips down to the level of the class desks and zeroes in onto the face of Ishaan. His mouth is agape, his sad eyes are looking down, and as the silent tension in the class rises, tears form, ready to roll down his face. His name will be mentioned and the students at this school too will mock him now.
Ram answers his own question, "that kid was the great scientist Albert Einstein." Ishaan looks up and is surprised, he looks relieved that his own name wasn't brought up. Ram smiles at him and continues to tell the class how Einstein, Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci and even Abhishek Bachchan had trouble with reading and writing in their youth. As we learn later, Ishaan and Einstein are not the only two possible answers to Ram's question. Ram himself is a third.
That's just one of the scenes from this movie about a dyslexic kid and a teacher who discovers and helps him. It is the first directorial attempt by Aamir Khan. AK is the only Bollywood hero I admire and I saw the movie today on its release weekend. And loved it! It's a bit long, it might be AK's baby, but he should've edited it a bit. Other that that, I was positively moved by it. There were many scenes that were absolutely golden, some even brought a tear to my eye. Watch out for the one where Ishaan floats his propeller boat (made of sticks, pencils, corks and rubber-bands) in the school pond and it slowly makes its way towards Ram. That scene is both moving and metaphorical. There are many more like that.
How do you even attempt to show the audience how the world looks to a kid, a dyslexic one? Using beautiful cinematography, attention to detail (observe how the camera is usually at the kid's height, not adult height) and sometimes story-telling animation (remember Calvin and his space adventures?) we get to see how Ishaan relishes the simple sights and sounds of the real world, while at the same time is being hounded by the terrors of his textbooks. This is the finest attempt I've ever seen in a movie (Hollywood or Bollywood) to show how a kid sees the adult world. Brilliant scripting and story-telling, AK the director rules!
The background music is top notch, the title track and its music is superb, but the other songs are just OK. AK doesn't even enter the movie until the intermission and even after that he is just a secondary character. Darsheel Safary owns this movie!!! It's his show all the way from the start to the end. Acting that is so brilliant that you can't call it acting. Ishaan has a strict (but caring) father, a loving mother and a helpful elder brother, all of whom are characterized very realistically. I'm willing to bet that you will laugh in some scenes and cry in some of the moving scenes, especially with his mom and him.
I found the movie to be both inspiring and introspective. Dyslexia actually occupies a very small piece of the movie and its message -- that each kid is unique and his/her creative imagination needs to be handled with care by parents, teachers and society. A highly recommended watch.
Wo de fu qin mu qin (1999)
So beautiful and emotional, it makes me go speechless
I saw Zhang Ziyi's 2000 debut movie The Road Home today evening. The movie is directed by Zhang Yimou, is in Mandarin and was screened with subtitles. A son returns home to his village in remote China only to learn that his father died. His dad had lived and taught in this village with his mom all his life. As his mom insists on bringing back his father from the town hospital in the traditional way, the son recollects his parents' life. Back during the times of the Anti-Rightist Movement, his dad arrives to this village as a teacher. His mom (Zhang Ziyi), the prettiest girl in the village falls in love with him. As the villagers join hands with the teacher to build a school for their children, she tries her best to woo him. They do fall in love eventually but he has to leave since he is in trouble since he is Rightist. His mom pines away waiting for the day he promised he would return. Finally he does and decides to stay in the village and teach with his mom.
I absolutely loved the movie! A masterpiece of the medium of cinema, it is flawless. The story is so simple yet moving, the romance is so pure, the actors are so good, the background score is heart rending and the rural landscape made me all gooey. I actually went misty eyed in some of the scenes. Zhang Yimou has captured landscapes and emotions so beautifully, that I was grateful I had my senses. The Road Home is the first movie of Zhang Yimou and Zhang Ziyi I've seen. Zhang Ziyi is now popular after Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs Of A Geisha, but you've got to see this movie to see her debut. Such is the pure innocence she oozes into this romance! Zhang Yimou is a critically acclaimed director. I've been eager to see some of his movies after I was floored by the trailer of Riding Alone For Thousands Of Miles. I've been left speechless by this movie and I will definitely be seeing more of his work in the future. This is a movie simply not to be missed for any god-damn reason! If this is the kind of stuff that is being created around the world, then I need to taste more of it. Why does Hollywood suddenly taste like McCrap?! The Road Home joins my top memorable movies now.
Bas Yun Hi (2003)
Like a summer noon, calm but uninteresting
Bas Yun Hi is about a bunch of 5 yuppies and is set totally in Bangalore. Rohan is engaged and he believes in astrology. According to his horoscope his ideal life partner would have a name that starts with V. His friend Aditya (Purab Kohli) decides to play a prank on him by getting his friend Veda (Nandita Das) to meet him and fall in love. Rohan actually falls for it and soon he is smitten by Veda. She too forgets its a prank and is totally attracted to him. Meanwhile, Rohan discovers that the horoscope he had was not his but that of his brother. Things further complicate when Rohan's fiancée returns from her travel.
The mood of this movie is totally offbeat and light. It actually feels like one of those cloudy afternoons in Bangalore. All the locales (Coffee Day outlets, parks, etc.) of the movie are in Bangalore and the city looks really good on screen! Nandita Das looks damn natural and has an easy role to play. What sucks in the movie is the pace. There really is not enough story in it to fill 2 hours, resulting in an extremely slow pace. The ending is quite predictable and disappointing. Had it been edited to ¾-1 hour, this would've been a decent made-for-TV movie.
Pallavi Anu Pallavi (1983)
Beautiful
This is Mani Ratnam's first movie in Kannada before he moved over to Tamil. Anil Kapoor, Lakshmi and Kiran form the love triangle in the movie. Anu (Lakshmi) has separated from her husband and is living with her child in Mercara. Vijay (Anil) is in love with Madhu (Kiran) in Bangalore. When he moves to Mercara to take care of his dad's business, he meets Anu and a friendship develops. Vijay, Madhu and Anu, how will this triangle be solved?
The movie is beautiful. Lakshmi and Kiran are stunning! Ilayaraja's background score and songs are ear-worms. The interplay of light and shadow all through the movie is notable. This is a must watch for any Kannada movie viewer.