Besides perfect comedic timing, a humorously relatable screenplay, and a couple of meta references, the film does a really solid job of spreading awareness about autism.
Sitaare Zameen Par movie review
Director: RS Prasanna
Cast: Aamir Khan, Genelia D’Souza, Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishna Varma, Samvit Desai, Vedant Sharma, Ayush Bhansali, Ashish Pendse
Rating: ★★★.5
Aamir Khan’s Sitaare Zameen Par is out in theatres today, and yes, we have a lot to say about this ‘special’ film after the terrible crash of Laal Singh Chaddha at the box office. But there’s something about films that Aamir Khan selects that leave an indelible impact on the viewers. His movies come with an unmistakable knack for focusing on the silver linings. And honestly, that remains etched in our memories. Same holds true for Sitaare Zameen Par too.
The film starts off with a humorous tone and a simply arrogant Aamir Khan, who is seen playing the role of Gulshan Arora, a soon-to-be ex-assistant basketball coach of Delhi as he punches his immediate superior after having a fallout with him on the basketball court for making fun of his height. The chaos then starts building up even more as Aamir Khan, in a drunken state, crashes his car into a police van, causing him to be sent straight to court, where he’s punished with training basketball to children with autism. However, unbeknownst to Gulshan, this process of coaching these special individuals takes him on a rollercoaster ride of emotional and character development.
Besides perfect comedic timing, a humorously relatable screenplay, and a couple of meta references, the film does a really solid job of spreading awareness about autism. What truly sets it apart is that instead of victimising the specially-abled characters, the film does a great job of promoting the new normal and asking people to shed the meaning of “normal” that has been set by society. The casting of the film has also been almost perfect, as none of the actors skipped a beat in any of the scenes or lines – even Genelia D’Souza’s whose character may appear to some as a bit unnecessary and underexplored in the film.
Even after being such a good film, Sitaare Zameen Par has not managed to survive ‘the Bollywood syndrome’ (i.e., the clichéd motivational training montages paired with upbeat songs and a troubled love story of the main character, which starts to get better as the movie rolls out). Audiences will often feel lost and under a stretch when the film tries to explore the relationship between Aamir and Genelia’s characters. All of it feels unnecessary because the director doesn’t deep-dive into the couple’s relationship. There are sequences featuring Genelia and Aamir together, but their chemistry comes across as a bit off, and the storyline feels stretched. What may also leave the viewers dissatisfied is the fact that Darsheel Safary hasn’t been roped in for this film. Had he been in the film, it would have been the perfect tribute to the film’s predecessor, Taare Zameen Par. The songs in Sitaare Zameen Par are also not as impressive or memorable as they were in Taare Zameen Par, which still echo in our playlists to this day. A couple of songs in the film also try to recreate the quirkiness of tracks like Bam Bam Bhole, but fail miserably.
However, even after so many downsides, Aamir Khan’s performance has been nothing short of phenomenal. His presence on screen, along with his whimsically annoyed character, keeps lighting it up with quirky one-liners landing at just the right moments. The film, written by Divy Nidhi Sharma and directed by R.S. Prasanna, also features Brijendra Kala, Dolly Ahluwalia, Gurpal Singh, Aroush Datta, Gopi Krishna Varma, Samvit Desai, Vedant Sharma, Ayush Bhansali, Ashish Pendse, Rishi Shahani, Rishabh Jain, Naman Mishra, and Simran Mangeshkar in the main roles.
While talking about the film, we really can’t miss the actors who played the roles of the differently-abled individuals in the film. Everything about them has been totally perfect: their acting, their dialogue delivery, their comedic timing—everything. It is as if the actors don’t let you feel the sensitive nature of the topic and instead present a humorous element to the film.
Sitaare Zameen Par is a film with not just a story, it comes with a very beautiful message of inclusivity, a message asking viewers to look just beyond themselves and their lives. Who knows, we might find some Sitaare Zameen Par?
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