Taare Zameen Par, reissued as
Like Stars on Earth for Disney's international DVD in 2009/2010, is a 2007 Indian drama film about a dyslexic child. It is directed and produced by Aamir Khan, and stars Darsheel Safary as eight-year-old Ishaan and Khan as his art teacher. Creative Director and writer Amole Gupte initially developed the idea with his wife Deepa Bhatia, who served as the film's editor. Visual effects are by Tata Elxsi's Visual Computing Labs.
The film explores the life and imagination of eight-year-old Ishaan. Although he excels in art, his poor academic performance leads his parents to send him to a boarding school. Ishaan's new art teacher (Aamir Khan) suspects that he is dyslexic and helps him to overcome his disability. The film made its theatrical debut in India on 21 December 2007, and UTV Home Entertainment released a DVD for Indian audiences in 2008. Disney's later release of the international edition DVD marked the first purchase of distribution rights for an Indian film by a global company.
Taare Zameen Par has received numerous awards, including the Filmfare Best Film Award for 2008 and the 2008 National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. It was India's official entry for the 2009 Academy Awards Best Foreign Film, and the film's failure to progress to the nominations short list sparked a debate about why no Indian film has ever won an Academy Award. Media outlets made comparisons between
Taare Zameen Par and the British drama
Slumdog Millionaire, which won several Academy Awards that same year.
It influenced many parents like me to be more sensitive to the child. It was awesome movie.
Interesting facts
1. The name Nikumbh, given to Aamir's character, was the name of Amole Gupte's (the creative director and the writer of this film) art teacher, the late Shri R. S. Nikumbh, who was also the principal of the Hansraj Morarji Public School.
2. Darsheel Safary, the 11-year-old star of the film, is a part of Shiamak Davar's dance troupe. During one of the classes, he saw a poster that read, "Hunting for a naughty kid. If you're selected, you will get a chance to act with Aamir Khan." He thought that it would be great if he was able the film. During the same class, Amole Gupte spotted him and asked him to go for an audition. Eventually, he got selected
3. Aamir Khan has not directed the entire film. Ad film-maker Ram Madhvani (who directed Boman Irani Hinglish starrer Let's Talk (2002)) has directed the song Bheja Kum in the film. The song was shot in a school in Panchgani. This is duly credited at the beginning of the end credits of the movie.
4. Aamir Khan took special permission from Amitabh Bachchan to use Abhishek Bachchan's example in this film. The reference is made in terms of Abhishek being one of the most successful stars and how he has created "Dhoom", overcoming the reading difficulties that he had during childhood (dyslexia).
5. Renowned mathematician shakuntala Devi accused the makers of taare zameen par of stealing ideas from her book "The wonderland of Numbers" by not giving her any credit. She now plans to make a film on her own based on the book.
6. Aamir Khan was greatly loved and adored by all the child artistes in the film. So much was he idolised that all the 43 children at the New Era School in Panchgani (where they shot) wanted to sport his kind of hairstyle. An indulgent Aamir went to the extent of turning hairstylist and actually gave them their desired cut.A spokesman for the film also noted that, "Aamir took great care of the kids. He hired five experts to draw up their schedules, diet and recreational activities.
7. Amir khan refused to start the shooting till he found the right child to play Ishan`s role of a dyslexic child. They even looked at the kids in Shyamak Dawar`s summer workshop.They auditioned a lot of school children until they found Darsheel,who had a mischievious look....Sure enough he played his character so well.
8. Ram Madhvani has directed the song Bheja Kum. While this song was getting shot Aamir and kids were shooting for the song Bum Bum Bole.
