Taare Zameen Par

This is an amazing film! It's about an 8 year old child who is failing miserably at school. His father sends him to a boarding school hoping that they will straighten him out. Things only get worse. Then, a new art teacher reaches out to him.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Bollywood, Aamir Khan, who produced, directed, and costars in this film, is now so famous that he can pick his projects very carefully and work with the best in the business. His name on a film is basically a guarantee the film will be wonderful, which is definitely a good thing as he does not have a release every year. Bollywood movies as a rule are never done with synch sound; the sound and dialogue are dubbed afterward. This enables stars like John Abraham and Katrina Kaif, whose Hindi was quite poor when they started acting, to have other actors dub all their dialog. The DVD included an option to see an "English" version, as well as an option of subtitles. I was curious about the English version, and if it would simply be English dubbing. It turns out that if you select it, you are treated to a totally separate film, shot simultaneously, with the actors speaking their lines in English. This must have been a horrendously expensive addition, although much of the Hindi version is actually in English. (When the child in the film is shown struggling to read and write, it's always in English.) The songs, thankfully, have been preserved in their original Hindi, and unlike some Bollywood films, subtitles are available for the songs. The songs are wonderful and blend into the action rather than being lavishly choreographed dance segments. This film was a huge commercial success, and swept the 2007 Filmfare Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. The child actor who had the lead role, Darsheel Safary, was nominated for Best Actor, and won the Critics' Award for Best Actor. These awards are the most important film awards for Bollywood, and instead of a shadowy "academy", the public is invited to vote. I have heard them criticized by crustier armchair critics than myself, but I find them a vastly better gage of an enjoyable film than the Academy Awards.

I was expecting this film to have something inspiring to say about teaching. It certainly did, but I found what it had to say about parental love was really moving. If you can keep a dry eye during the song, "Maa", you're made of sterner stuff than I! It was interesting to me to see a film in which a teacher forms a personal relationship with a student, something which is actively discouraged in our culture. The movie also really emphasizes the importance of creativity. You've probably heard it said that students these days are studying technology that is obsolete before they graduate, and that practically the only marketable skill we can be sure our kids will need in the future is creativity. (At the same time, public schools are often finding in these tough times that there's no room in the budget for art and music, and there rarely ever was for drama or dance.) This film serves as a reminder that both teaching and learning can really be approached creatively. This is a subject that must be dear to Mr. Khan's heart, since he tackles a similar theme in his latest release, "3 Idiots", which takes place at an engineering college (also not to be missed!).  Netflix has it, or pester your library to add it to their collection!