Aamir Khan’s directorial debut film, Taare Zameen Par, is all set to release this Friday and recently he sat down and spoke about the film.
“It’s about a kid who has a passion for painting but faces a lot of difficulty in his academic life. It’s a story about his life and his relationship with his art teacher, which is the role that I play, by changing his life through caring and understanding. That is the key message of the film – that with caring and love you can actually do a lot,” Aamir said.
The young boy in the film has dyslexia, which is a learning disability that can cause difficulty with reading and spelling. Aamir’s character tries to connect with and teach the boy in a different way. “I think my character is very open-minded as a teacher. He doesn’t believe in the rigid authority of what is conventional education. When teaching children, it’s very important that kids enjoy what they are doing, and that’s when they learn best because it’s exciting for them. It’s our responsibility to make it exciting for kids,” he said.
The actor went on to say, “What the film is also trying to say is that there is a multitude of talents in all of us and reading and writing are only two of them. There is singing, there is art, there is painting, there is callisthenics and there is sport.”
Adding, “The film is also saying that each of us has got strengths and each of us has got weaknesses – children, adults, everyone. With love and care you can address any weakness and it is our duty to encourage kids in what is their passion and what they love doing to help them to grow.”
Since this was his first directing experience Aamir said one of the biggest challenges was making sure the children were comfortable: “My one big concern was to direct the children. There are 40 of them, and for someone who is very fond of children, my challenge was to make them feel at home and get natural performances from them. I was anxious that the children should be at ease throughout the shoot. I was also aware that many of them are star-struck. So my big challenge was to break the ice. I did it partly by telling them jokes. Within an hour, we were laughing like we had known each other for a long time. In no time, I ceased to be Aamir the star for them. Instead, I became their ring leader!”
About being both director and actor Aamir said, “I had no trouble directing myself. Because the actor and director in me wanted the same thing, to bring to the screen a brilliant screenplay. It wasn’t that the actor Aamir and director Aamir were wearing different hats.”
“It is challenging and comes with its own demands so I did the best that I could. I think I’m quite happy with the way the film has turned out,” he added.
The film is all ready getting some great reviews and we look forward to seeing it this weekend. Be sure to check back here to read our review of Taare Zameen Par.
