A shining beacon in the night sky

Yes, that’s what Taare Zameen Par stands out to be. I had come across countless reports showering praise on the movie, Aamir Khan and his directional debut, but I just couldn’t squeeze in a little bit of time to watch the spectacle the movie is.

It’s gladdening on a number of counts. It’s portrayal of a poignant issue plaguing the society in a rather mature way puts it far apart from the clutter of the routine, senseless movies. And there’s no frivolity – no Basu’s or Sherawat’s running around trees and encircling bare male bodies wearing a handkerchief for a cloth.

I’ve followed the ‘movies’ section of the ‘Ergo’ tabloid that is circulated in these parts for about a year now, and the section invariably contains one of these women striking an incisive still at the camera, amongst some ‘heroes’ who invariably look like immature school kids. In all the year I’ve watched this, the only thing that seems to change between the posters is the title of the movie and the color of what they are wearing. It’s almost like I can find a crap movie whenever I want to, but, lo and behold, sensible ones come only once in a long while. Love (the hetero-sexual movie-love) and sensuality are essential parts of human emotions, but it doesn’t have to be taken so far. I wonder how long people can take such crap. The two subjects have been abused beyond imagination, and it’s time for sensible directors to come up with the likes of Taare Zameen Par to put an end to this madness.

Coming back, the best part is that the movie went on to become a hit amongst the audience. I loved the parts that emphasized how much emphasis we place on not letting kids just let them be… and rather want them to follow the routine school-college-corporate mayhem. Classes, schools, exams… all the despicable items of a child’s life - accentuated further with tuitions and coaching!

Jeez, kids these days are a mess! I was thoroughly disappointed with the schooling culture in metropolitan cities (Chennai etc) and the race to ‘getting marks’ – even in the initial parts of schooling days. Say this based on our experience – what is really the correlation between achieving high marks in schools and your performance in real life?

I just loved a sight yesterday - when I ran into a bunch of kids playing football using make-up goal-posts in the open parking space of the apartment complex where I happen to stay. It was a wonderful sight… personified with childhood innocence that took me back by almost 15 years.

I think I’ve said enough. If you haven’t watched the movie yet – do not wait. This is a piece of art. Send it to the Oscars.