A Flick That Clicks*
What it takes to make a flick that
clicks?! There are myriads of them being dolled out at an alarming
frequency, each one technically superior than the other, most of them being
shot in exotic foreign locales with scripts that are comparable with those of
Hollywood - if not better and with budgets that can make even the richest
productions drop their jaws. Amongst these zillions, (In production- whatever
they may be - we Indians are Numero Uno), there are many that won’t get
to be mentioned anywhere(Box Office Bombs), there are some that are said to be
passable but watched by none(Average) and then are these chosen few that
are not only repeatedly watched, chewed and urged to be watched in friends
circles but also become worthy of lengthy reviews. Taare Zameen Par happened to
fall in this last category - a very good New Year gift given to me by a
friend, which I would cherish for the rest of the long year
ahead.
Aameer Khan does keep his yearly appointment with all of us with yet another
block buster from his stable. He has always tried and succeeded in his attempt
to come up with something unique and something that is quite closer to
reality. And in my opinion, this precisely is the primary reason for a flick to
click. If the telugu blockbuster of the year, "Happy Days"
successfully took us back to our happy college days, TZP I should say made us
feel nostalgic about our school days.
*Story of a reluctantly boarding Ishaan Nand
Kishore Awasthi(INKA)
I was very much surprised to note that I was not alone in letting the taps
rather wide open while watching emotional flicks. Its the instant identity with
Ishaan, a reluctant kid at a boarding school, a role which we all have played
with aplomb at some point or the other during our studies, is what probably
making many rather emotional. All of us have been to boarding
college if not to boarding school, and have definitely undergone
the first day in the hostel syndrome and experienced the homesickness. It is a
different issue altogether that our boarding college has made us all so
’sick of home’ that we decided to make the place of our boarding college itself
as our future home.
Supposedly an Aamir Khan flick - it will be hard to believe that he doesn’t
appear on the screen till the interval. Imagine making a movie with Aamir and
let his role be limited to less than half of the movie. The producer must have
gone nuts or so I thought, but came to know that since he himself happens to be
the producer, he could afford this and the story actually happens to be of the
real hero Ishaan - **Ishaan Nand Kishore Awasti** and his awasthas’ at
home and at boarding school.
Talking of awasthas’, an average students trials in class rooms filled with
naturally talented peers, having to bear the feeling of being an idiot amongst
the intelligent is to be experienced or be watched in TZP rather than read
from reviews. Some of the scenes in which **INKA** has to go through
these emotions will definitely remind our own dreaded maths periods and
computer science practicals that usually leave many with twisted cheeks, bruised
fingers and the numerous instances during which many of us have been
driven to a corner making us wonder "kyon mera bheja kum?". And they
did remind me of the of the eternal feeling of being out of place while joining
a very well settled hostel after more than a month into the term - "term
ke beech mein". I couldn’t suppress the urge to clip some of these
gripping scenes of INKA in which one can instantly identify himself with
the on screen character.
There is every reason for a’special’ child to be depressingly quiet in a class
full of excited characters. In this fast paced world, which is often referred
to as "a rat race - at the end of which one is still a rat" - where
in every one is so much pre occupied, that they have no time to deal with their
own problems, It will be very hard to find helping hands that can
appreciate others burdens. Instead of making any attempt to understand the root
of the problem, every one - right from the parents, teachers and others
instantly brand INKA as an idiot lazy crazy duffer. Fortunately for INKA,
there is Aamir Khan donning the role of **Ram Shankar Nikumbh, **an ART
teacher - who not only sorts out INKA’s problem - termed dyslexia-
a condition which makes one hard to read the alphabets - but also unearths the
latent talent in him. The look of a self confident INKA is enough for one
to wonder how good it would be to have a real life Nikumbhs as well for there
are definitely lots of INKA’s around.
*Relive
those by gone days*
We get so vexed with the issues that life regularly presents us, that many a
time we always felt that "To be young was verily heaven". TZP is a
must watch for all those who want to relive those days albeit for a little
while. I am sure its a worth while investment of our time.