Taare Zameen Par means ‘stars on earth’ and it conveys the message that every child is special. It starts with a boy named Ishaan – in his day school, he is thought of as an extremely stupid child and it gets worse for him when he goes to boarding school. There he is beaten by the physics teacher, made fun of while marching and beaten by everybody, especially the physics teacher. Well, all the teachers think of him as stupid until a temporary teacher named Nikumbh arrives, who comes dressed as a clown. Later, he tells the headmaster that Ishaan has Dyslexia. The headmaster wants to throw Ishaan out and put him in a special school but Nikumbh tells him that every child has the right to choose which school he or she wants to be in. So, Ishaan stays at the school.
Nikumbh meets Ishaan’s parents and scolds them and Ishaan’s brother Yohaan and he tells them that Ishaan is a child of above average intelligence. One day an art mela is held. Ishaan used to have trouble with his letters, and he once dumped the contents of his bag in the dustbin. When that happened, lots of spiders came. They were in English letters and in Hindi letters and it took a great deal of smashing to kill one of them.
Appa: What do you think those spiders mean?
I think the spiders mean the letters that Ishaan is having trouble with. At the very beginning of the movie, in fact, first one word appears on the board, then lots more and then lots and lots and lots and lots more! In all the languages, and numbers too!! They all rush about the board, and Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail blares up occasionally, and the teacher in Ishaan’s day school, who is in front of the board, keeps on giving grades. Whenever she sees Ishaan’s grade, the word Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail, Fail thing blares up.
A: What do you think that is trying to say?
I think it’s trying to say that Ishaan keeps failing in his exams. Alright, back to the story. An Art mela is held, that’s where we were. Well, one and all, students and teachers, participate. And what’s more, there is a really funny picture of the Physics teacher and a funny picture of the English teacher! The person who painted the Physics teacher, puts the mole in the wrong place so the Physics teacher paints over the mole and paints the other mole.
Ishaan paints an extremely beautiful painting. In it, the colors flow about like water before assuming shapes.
Okay, here is another flashback. Once, Nikumbh took all the children to a nearby lake. Ishaan built a boat, a tiny boat made of leaves and wood, with propellers with pieces of wood and rubber bands too! He used two long leaves as the wings, so, it was a boat-plane.
Well, in the end, the Physics teacher and the English teacher are both happy to have Ishaan in their class.
A: But what happens in between? Ishaan was having trouble, Nikumbh comes and says he has Dyslexia, Ishaan makes a beautiful painting, then what happens?
Alright, then, when the time comes for the students to leave…wait, there is another flashback. In Ishaan’s class, there is another student who has trouble with his left leg. Well, back to the story. When the time comes for all the students to leave…
Muttu: but srikar, what about Ishaan learning alphabets, numbers, etc.?
Once, Ishaan’s father sees him standing in front of a board and reading words. He also plays computer games.
A:So what is happening over there?
Well, over there, what’s happening, is that Ishaan is trying to learn with Nikumbh’s help.
A: So Nikumbh succeeds in teaching Ishaan?
Yes, Nikumbh teaches Ishaan how to learn, while all the other teachers fail, in the so-called ‘good’ school!
A: So all this while, who was a failure?
So, all this while, it wasn’t Ishaan who was the failure, it was all the teachers he met before Nikumbh!
A: Then the story ends?
No, No…when the time comes for the children to leave with their parents, Ishaan is about to enter into the car but he runs back to Nikumbh. It ends with Nikumbh lifting him up into the air, even throwing him a bit, up.
A: So, what does that show?
That shows, that Ishaan and Nikumbh like each other.
(In dramatic style) And Ishaan and Nikumbh are two of the very few stars on earth! Remember, Taare Zameen Par, stars on earth. The message Taare Zameen Par conveys is every child is special!!
For added fun, you can listen to the entire conversation below.
Context: Normally Srikar does not like non-English movies but for the summer, he has agreed to watch movies in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu, along with his cousins. He is not fluent in any of these languages. He watched the movie without subtitles, no one translating it for him and still understood so much!
I also notice that he does not like writing and that is impacting his output. So, for this one, he spoke into a voice recorder and I transcribed the conversation later.
pingnama 