Taare Zameen Par ! ~Every Child is Special ~~

Director : Aamir Khan
Producer : Aamir Khan
Musician : Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Very rarely do you get to see such great films that touch your heart and make you a better person. Hats off to Aamir Khan for giving us an exceptional film. Exceptional, because it serves the higher purpose of art, cinema in this case.
‘Taare Zameen Par’ is about a little boy, or shall I say a little flower that has been nipped so many times in the bud that it begins to wilt. But then comes the gardener, the man who lets, and helps, the bud to flower fully.

Ishaan Awasthi ( Darsheel Safary ), an eight-year-old naughty kid is often scolded and scorned at by his teachers and parents for being poor in studies. Life and its joy begin to seep out of him under the burden of the expectations of his parents (his demanding father, in particular) and teachers.

Through the bars of his classroom window he often sees nature and life outside in its natural and free progression. He gets to taste this freedom for one single day when he bunks the school for not getting his test papers signed from his parents.

Punishment – much against Ishaan’s wish, his father sends him to a boarding school, where whatever little glimmer of life’s joy that remained in Ishaan begins to fade away. And he even turns his back to his passion for painting.

But then comes a new arts teacher in the boarding school. Ram Nikumbh (Aamir Khan) knows how to reach out to children and make the process of learning enjoyable for them. He spots the silent and brooding Ishaan in class and decides to help the boy.

The rest of the film is about how the shattered confidence of Ishaan is restored and how he overcomes his disabilities and how he even surpasses his teacher in his favourite passion – painting.

‘Taare Zameen Par’ is a film made with enormous sense and sensibility. The story by Amole Gupte never intends to arouse in you sympathy for kids with lesser abilities. Rather it gives examples of great personalities, scientists and artists, to drive home the point that even a dyslexic child has a great potential.

The film is full of amazing moments that will make your eyes well up. An angry, bleeding and helpless Ishaan runs to the terrace of his building after being beaten by other kids. Or when his father slaps him after finding out that he bunked from school. Or how Ishaan keeps running around the sports ground in silent anger and frustration when his parents visit him in the boarding school. Or how Ishaan tries to hide his face when his arts teacher spots him kneeling in punishment outside a classroom. The killer scene comes in the end when Ishaan’s talent gets recognition and everybody looks out for him but he sits fearfully hidden in a crowd of children.

Darsheel Safary is the real hero of the film. No two thoughts about it. Aamir Khan is the second fiddle.

It is incredibly difficult to make a child act. And how good a job Aamir has done as the director is apparent from the stunning performance he has extracted out of Darsheel. In my opinion, Darsheel’s performance is the best we have seen from any male actor this year in Bollywood, including the Khans and Bachchans. The range Darsheel brings about in his character – from notoriety to vulnerability, and from buoyancy to lifelessness – is truly the work of a genius. Writer Amole Gupte and Aamir Khan have found a diamond in Darsheel.

Aamir, the dependable Khan, is up to his credentials as an actor. But it is as the director that he scores. Aamir has handled the subject with great sensitivity. His cinema is not about style but substance. Without straying into the usual trappings of a regular Bollywood film and at the same time blending the superb songs by Shankar Ehsaan Loy smoothly in the narrative, Aamir keeps TZP focused solely on the story and its essence.

And what a story it is. Amole Gupte deserves no less credit for penning such a touching tale. It is a story that shows the helplessness of a kid who is not able to perform tasks that are beyond his abilities. It also shows the lack of understanding on part of teachers and parents while dealing with such kids. And, last but not the least, it is a story of hope. It is a story that not just touches you but also transforms you. That, for me, is the higher purpose of art. And that is precisely why ‘Taare Zameen Par’ is an exceptional film.

Jab We Met !!!

StarringKareena Kapoor .... Geet

Shahid Kapur .... Aditya

Director : Imtiaz Ali

Imtiaz Ali’s movie ‘Jab We Met’ has all the trappings of a romantic entertainer.
The film doesn’t boast of a very unique story. What makes it interesting is the way it has been presented by Imtiaz Ali . ‘Jab We Met’ tells the story of two contrasting personalities who develop an affinity while traveling together through the heartland of north India. Ali makes sure that something new happens in every reel of the film to keep you glued to the screen. However, the film is not without some low points.
But first, the story:
Aditya ( Shahid Kapur ), a young industrialist, is dejected with life because his girlfriend left him for another man. Aimlessly he boards a train on which he meets Geet ( Kareena Kapoor ) a chatterbox who annoys him with her constant talking. So much so that he gets down the train to avoid her. She follows him there too. And the two end up missing the train.
Stranded on a platform, Geet, the sikhni, tells Aditya in clear words that he would now have to get her to her home in Bhatinda. Thereafter begins the journey of Aditya and Geet through the scenic villages and towns of North India. And once they reach Bhatinda, Geet’s family thinks Aditya is her boyfriend. Deep within, Aditya too begins to like Geet.
But Geet has other plans. She has a boyfriend with whom she plans to elope. Aditya accompanies her to Manali from where he heads back to revive his business back in Mumbai.
Is it the final goodbye for Geet and Aditya or are they destined to meet again? The end is predictable, but the way Imtiaz Ali brings the story to its obvious conclusion makes ‘Jab We Met’ worth a watch.
Though a predictable love story, ‘Jab We Met’ is different because most of it is set outdoors. The romantic moments between Shahid and Kareena tug a string at your heart. Complementing the mush is the lighthearted humour that the film has in ample doses. If anything was left, the film’s music completes the delectable cocktail.
There can be no two opinions that Shahid and Kareena are the driving forces of ‘Jab We Met’. Shahid’s performance is composed and restrained. He brings about a gradual transformation in his character, as his journey with Kareena gets closer to destination.
On the other hand, Kareena is absolutely uninhibited. With the exception of a few scenes when she goes over the top, Kareena plays her role with conviction and credibility. She does manage to sound and look like a sikhni from Bhatinda.
In marginal roles, Dara Singh and Pawan Malhotra are good.
To sum it up, ‘Jab We Met’ is not a path-breaking film. But it is a fairly enjoyable entertainer with a dash of drama in the second half. In fact, for a few reels in the second half, the movie loses its momentum.
What makes ‘Jab We Met’ watchable is the chemistry between Shahid and Kareena. It is ironic that they no longer share the same chemistry in real life.

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal ........

StarringJohn Abraham .... Sunny
Arshad Warsi .... Shaan
Bipasha Basu .... Rumana
Boman Irani .... Tony
Director : Vivek Agnihotri
Musician : Pritam





As the team’s captain puts it: “It is not about football”.

Yes, Vivek Agnihotri’s film ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ is about everything else except football. It is about racism towards south Asians in Britain, and it is about the rise of the underdogs.
The director never makes an attempt to penetrate into the game. Rather, he is so obsessed with the idea of projecting racism that he pitches the entire plot of the movie on it. Not a single gora in the film is shown as a friend of the Asians of the Southall community. John Abraham’s character Sunny, who plays for a team of whites (Aston), is repeatedly warned by his dad and a Southall coach that a bitter reality awaits him. That reality strikes home when John, despite being one of the best players, is dropped from the Aston team just because of his skin colour.
Dear Mr. Agnihotri, admitted that racism exists in the UK. But you show it in extremes in your movie.
Without beating about the bush let me come to the point. ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ is a pretty average film with just a few good sequences that come too late to save the sinking ship.
The movie does remind you of Chak De India in parts – a coach with a sordid past, a ragtag team of underdogs, ego clashes within the team, and the penultimate rise of the minnows. But ‘Goal’ fails to do even half of what ‘CDI’ did. ‘Goal’ doesn’t evoke a sense of patriotism, it doesn’t stir your blood, and it only manages to provide you with some wishy-washy entertainment.
Shaan ( Arshad Warsi ) is the captain of the Southall football club, comprising of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi players. The club is only for namesake, its field being used for parties and weddings to earn the extra buck. There is no coach. The players are pot-bellied and flat-footed. No wonder, the club hasn’t won a tournament for decades.
Now, a bigger danger looms over the club. If they don’t pay their pending lease of the last seven years, the players risk losing the club to the greedy sharks who want to make money out of turning the place into a commercial complex. Their only hope is to win the Combined Counties Football League in England and save the club through the prize money of 3 million.
Shaan finds a new coach, Tony Singh ( Boman Irani ), for the team. In turn, Tony finds a new striker Sunny ( John Abraham ) who has been dropped from an English team because of his color. But Sunny and Shaan don’t like each other.
Aah…I almost forgot. There is also Shaan’s sister Rumana ( Bipasha Basu ) who has a soft corner for Sunny and joins the team as the physiotherapist.
As the underdogs of Southall pull up their socks and take on the field with renewed vigour, the club’s fortune begins to turn around. The end is predictable. The underdogs will eventually prevail, but not without crossing many a hurdle.
‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ has flaws one too many. Firstly, the movie lacks genuine humour (except a few moments). Secondly, the racist angle is stretched beyond credibility. The angst of the South Asians towards the whites is understandable, but the director harps on it time and again, unwillingly making the coloured ones look no less racist. For instance, check out the tirade of John’s sidekick after John is dropped from an English team.
Director Vivek Agnihotri needs a lesson in subtlety. His idea of subtlety is Tony’s wife saying how beautiful different flowers look in a pot when Shaan complains about Sunny being too English to be a part of the Southall team. And how ‘subtle’ was Agnihotri’s idea of showing the face of Sunny’s dad on the stadium’s big viewer-screen so that coach Tony can recognize the old man as the same person who saved him from a racist attack many years ago.
As far as performances go, John Abraham shows slight improvement in his acting abilities. The guy with a killer smile not just displays his natural flair at football, he also manages to emote well in good many scenes. Arshad Warsi is dependable as usual. His histrionics are in place. But his frame comes across a tad too stout to make him look like a footballer.
Bipasha’s role doesn’t put any great demands on her. Boman Irani is just about okay.
‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ does have a few engrossing and emotional moments, mostly in the second half. The music is pretty forgettable. The team’s anthem “Halla Bol” only arouses embarrassment for a viewer.
However, if you are a fan of either John Abraham or football, you will manage to sit through a viewing of ‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’