In this birthday special, Subhash K Jha celebrates Taare Zameen Par actor Darsheel Safary.
At 9, Darsheel Safary was nominated for Filmfare’s best actor award alongside Shah Rukh Khan in Chak De India.
What did this honour mean to a 9-year old boy?
His reply: “I was only 9. All of 9!!! And I had no idea about camera, cinema , acting. No one from my family was part of the movies. I still don’t know why Aamirji (Khan) and Amoleji (Gupte) chose me. But there I was, playing a character whose problems were completely alien to me. So, I did what any child would do in my place. I surrendered completely to Amoleji, who had written the film and knew the character inside-out, and Aamirji who handled me with kid’s gloves. I later saw the film just a month ago with my parents and sister. And you know what? I could see things that I could’ve done better.”
After Taare Zameen Par, Darsheel continued his pursuit to have a career as an actor. “Now that I am trained as an actor I know the craft. But perhaps the lack of craft made Ishan so real. I didn’t fake anything. When Ishan cried, I cried with him. Those were real tears. Looking back that was amazing….yeah! But back then I was clueless. I went through all the experiences of TZP without really enjoying it.”
No child actor in India has received the kind of adulation that Darsheel Safary did. Now at 29, he is trying to find his bearings as a mature actor. It isn’t easy. It never is easy for a child actor to make that slippery transition to adulthood. But Darsheel will make it. He has the grit. In fact, the actor’s newest project is the yet to be named international feature film that also stars Mohit Raina and Priya Mani.
Happy Birthday, Darsheel.
