Film review: Amazing cinematography and a versatile Kajol.....

Banner: Devgan Entertainment Software Ltd.
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Kajol, Karan Khanna, Isha Sharwani, Sumeet
Raghavan, Rituparn,Sengupta, Sarika,Divya Dutta
Direction: Ajay Devgan
Production: Ajay Devgan
Music: Vishal Bharadwaj

U Me Aur Hum marks the directorial debut of Ajay Devgan who comes in this year with a bad start at the box office with movies such as ‘Halla Bol’ and ‘Sunday ‘not faring too well. Much seems to be riding on this film too as one sees the Kajol-Ajay, husband-wife pair after a very long time. Ajay Devgan who is more known for his action packed films be it a ‘Gangajal ‘or ‘Apharan’ explores the romance genre with his debut film. So what’s in store with U Me Aur Hum? Does the film truly live up to being a truly romantic film on soul mates?

The film takes off with Ajay (Ajay Devgan )a renowned psychiatrist on a cruise with a bunch of friends on a cruise with his friends -- Nikhil [Sumeet Raghavan] and Reena [Divya Dutta], who are unhappily married and are looking forward to a divorce, Vicky [Karan Khanna] and Natasha [Isha Sharwani], who are seeing each other and plan to get married once they can dance the salsa together. Ajay comes across Pia( Kajol) a bartender and takes a couple of drinks to admit his feelings.

Ajay works day and night to win over Pia by understanding her likes, learning Salsa etc. The two eventually get married and with every marriage, its share of problems too creep in the form of Alzheimer’s.

To start off with, U Me Aur Hum has its moment s of brilliance mostly in terms of cinematography and performances. U Me Aur Hum lacks majorly in its storytelling, though the basic concept of the film is a very good one, the loose screenplay and the slow build up of events really affects the film. The first half of the film fails to create that much hyped romantic impact and is all the more dragging with the silly jokes mostly from Karan Khanna and major portions of the film are wasted in cliché thoughts of impressing a girl by learning salsa etc.

Though a lot has been said about U, Me Aur Hum being inspired from Hollywood films such as ‘Notebook’ and ‘Iris’ , Ajay Devgan has done a great job of adapting it to Indian standards. But there is a little glitch here, Ajay fails to make the romance germinate within you.

The film indeed picks up during the 2nd half and is much better and relevant in comparison to the earlier portions. The screenplay team of Robin Bhatt, Sutanu Gupta and Akarsh Khurana fail to keep the viewer glued. The time duration of the film also hampers it quite a bit.

The true winner of the film is Aseem Bajaj’s cinematography. He excels in almost every scene and credit only goes to Ajay for his visual sense. The silhouettes, the close ups, the 2 shot compositions are just brilliant. Aseem Bajaj just tends to draw so much attention for his work and takes you on a complete scenic ride.

On the performance front without any doubt the film truly belongs to Kajol who proves it once again that she is one of India’s finest talents. More than the usual chirpy smile sequences and Naach-Gaana she expresses well in states of complete stillness and perplexities such as the observation of the lizard on the wall. Even the pregnant Kajol skipping to lose weight in a state of Alzeheimer’s really hits you. Ajay Devgan too does well but it’s very obvious that Ajay excels more in direction. The best from Ajay comes towards the climax of the film where he explodes in an attempt to remind an Alzheimer struck Kajol about his identity.

Divya Dutta and Sumeet Raghavan are impressive. Karan Khanna and Isha Sharwani are totally wasted. Karan Khanna annoys with his constant PJ’s. Sachin Khedekar is ok. Aditya Rajput and Hazel are hardly there.

The music of the film is not the finest around and tracks like ‘Saiyaan’ just interrupt with the flow of events. ‘Jee Lee’ and the title track leave an impact. On the whole, U Me Aur Hum gets a little dragging primarily in the first half and is a little loose on its screenplay. In any case the film is worth watching for its splendid Cinematography and Kajol’s first rate performance. Also looks like Ajay Devgan the director has arrived.

Film Review:

Banner: Tips Films Limited
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif ,Sameera Reddy.
Direction: Abbas Mustan
Production: Kumar S. Taurani & Ramesh S. Taurani
Music: Pritam

After a dry spell at the box office primarily due to school and college exams, comes the release of one of the most awaited films of the year. Tips Industries, the producers of the film have put in so much dedication and moolah to assure the masses that they see a flick that looks international.

The director duo, Abbas-Mastan returns with yet another thriller, but this time around a flick that is sleek and high on style. After over 6 years of waiting, the duo finally does a film with Saif and is it worth all that much?

Well to take off, the film revolves around two brothers; Ranvir [Saif Ali Khan] and Rajeev [Akshaye Khanna] who own a huge stud farm in Durban, South Africa. They breed horses on their huge ranch house and are also the biggest bookies in the horse racing circuit. Ranvir, the elder of the two, is known to be a very shrewd man. He is very aggressive and is always on the move. Rajiv, on the other hand, is very laidback and is also a chronic alcoholic.

Sophia [Katrina Kaif] is Ranvir’s personal secretary. She adores her boss and loves him. Ranvir is totally unaware of her feeling and regards her adoration as her efficiency. Sonia [Bipasha Basu] is an upcoming Indian ramp model in Durban.

Sonia loves Ranvir, but through a twist of fate gets married to Rajiv. When she discovers that Rajiv is a chronic alcoholic, things begin to get worse.

Eventually, Ranvir and Sonia come very close to each other and an affair starts between the younger brother’s wife and the elder brother. When the younger brother starts suspecting his wife, all hell breaks loose.

A murder is committed, a contract killing is issued, double crossings become the order of the day… A sharp-tongued investigative officer R.D. [Anil Kapoor] starts an investigation with his brainless assistant Mini [Sameera Reddy].

Abbas- Mastan have proved it over the years that no one can beat them when it comes to the thriller genre. With films like Khiladi , Baazigar , Humraaz ; Race might just add to their list of hits. The film has several twists and turns that keep you saying ‘oh’ and reanalyzing everything so that bits and pieces of the story fill in to form the collage called Race.

But one little factor that has to be noted is that as the duo directors attempt to make things complicated and shock the audience , they just kind of lose out on the whole plot and this con man film at the end makes the viewer wonder when did certain characters team up to plot against the others.

The screenplay of the film by Shiraz Ahmed is good but at times is loose. The 1st half of the film is quite a drag and the songs look really forced upon. Next time around, Abbas-Mastan should consider chopping some tracks. Maybe this time they couldn’t do so considering their producers are Music giants.

On the acting front, the film truly belongs to Saif. Saif looks stylish, smart and carries the adrenaline in the character perfectly. His dialogue delivery is just amazing and the action sequences considering he did them all by himself is just commendable. Watch out for Saif’s jump from a great height. It’s terrifically done courtesy Allan Amin.

With due credit to all the actors in the film, Race wouldn’t be all that racy if it wasn’t for Saif. Watch out the dialogue where he addresses his younger brother on the funda of winning-losing and on the outcome of betrayal where he blows up his jockey’s car.

Akshaye Khanna does really well too. Abbas –Mastan always emerge in bringing out the negative traits in Akshaye with ease. The wickedness in Akshaye is expressed well with his smile. But the only problem here is that Akshaye has done such roles before for Abbas-Mastan thus there lacks a certain amount of shock value.

Bipasha Basu isn’t all that great. Her acting skills haven’t really been explored. It’s more of her sex appeal that has been tapped in film. Bipasha’s styling somehow fails to leave an impact; her outfits do nothing more than provide the viewer some eye candy. But credit goes to Bipasha for doing some great action sequences in the film.

On the other hand, Katrina Kaif emerges victorious. Her acting isn’t the finest around but much better than her previous flicks. She carries the secretarial role with complete elegance and ease. In fact, her styling has been sleek and apt. She carries that executive look as well as the sexy attire with ease.

Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy make an entry at the interval stage. Anil is ok as the cop, but trust me his jokes are really poor. Even the characterization with different fruits at various points in the film fails to create any impact. Sameera Reddy has nothing much to do in the film besides try and ask some stupid questions. Sameera too has just been used to create the so called ‘Sexy Look’ of the film.

Johny Lever comes in for one scene and really impresses and is spontaneous with his jokes. He surely deserves more comic roles.

The true winner of the film is none other than action director-Allan Amin. He is just terrific and it’s his action and stunts that really justify the title of the film. Amin impresses with the well choreographed explosions, Saif’s fall, edgy car stunts etc. Amin is the true star of race.

Cinematography by Ravi Yadav is top class as the film captures well the horse races, car stunts, beautiful locales of Durban and Dubai etc. Editing by Hussain Burmawala’s is ok. Maybe a few songs could have been chopped.

Dialogues [Anuraag Prapanna, Jitendra Parmar] are good. Styling [Anaita Shroff Adajania] works for Saif, Katirina , Anil and Akshaye.

Music by Pritam is Ok, but often comes in as a hindrance to the plot. Most of the numbers fail to leave that impact on screen especially Kim Hyung Sup’s-Sarang Haeyo track rendered in Hindi by Atif Aslam. The picturisation is so kiddish ; with just a single interaction you see Akshaye Khanna whose voice firstly doesn’t suit Atif already kind of romancing Bips. ‘Zara Zara touch me’ and the title track impress. Background score [Salim-Sulaiman] is really intense and adds to the action. Choreography [Bosco-Caesar and Ganesh Acharya] is good.

On the whole, Race isn’t the best thriller around but the action is sure to keep you hooked on. Saif fan’s will surely not miss this one. The chances of race not faring well at the box office is unlikely as it’s been a while since the cinegoers had any releases and this flick is sure to appeal to the masses. If not for the action and music, the pretty ladies in the film will assure a hit.

Film Review:

Banner: Eros Entertainment,Big Screen Entertainer
Cast: Sunil Shetty,Tusshar Kapoor,Paresh Rawal, Upen Patel,Esha Deol,Neetu Chandra
Sameera Reddy, Tanisha Mukherjee
Direction: Ashwani Dheer
Production: Kumar Mangat, Sunil Lulla
Music: Raghav Sachar

123 comes your way as one of the so called multi-starrers of this year (at least that’s how it was promoted). The film attempts to bring in immense comedy on the basis of mistaken identities.

The film brings in the ace at television comedy –Ashwin Dhir who has been the maverick behind the success of the tele-serial ‘Office Office’. But we wonder whether television and cinema have the same pattern when it comes to humour?

To begin with, the diamonds belonging to a Don [Manoj Pahwa] accidentally fall in the hands of Chandu [Upen Patel] and Chandni [Tanishaa], who hide them in a car. Papa [Mukesh Tiwari] and his henchmen [Vrajesh Hirjee and Sanjay Mishra] are desperately hunting for the diamonds, while police officer Mayavati Chautala [Neetu Chandra] is on the lookout for any offenders.

Enter the first Laxmi Narayan [Tusshar Kapoor] who is from a mafia family and his mother prays and awaits his first successful murder. He comes to Hotel Blue Diamond to knock off Papa which is his last chance to prove himself as Bhai.

Enter the second Laxmi Narayan [Suniel Shetty] who is also sent to Hotel Blue Diamond to collect a new car for his boss from Laila [Sameera Reddy]. The third Laxmi Narayan [Paresh Rawal] is a hawker who has made so much money selling under-garments on the footpath that he has set up a lingerie factory now. His son sends him to Hotel Blue Diamond to collect lingerie samples from upcoming designer Jiya [Esha Deol].

The three Laxmi Narayans are at the same place, at the same time. They get letters and photographs meant for the other. The first Laxmi Narayan gets lingerie designer Jiya's photo,the second Laxmi Narayan gets Papa's photo and the third Laxmi Narayan gets Laila's photo . A series of events follow which get different personalities intertwined as mistaken identities take over.

Director Ashwani Dhir fails miserably at holding the viewers attention and making one laugh. Some jokes are good but majority of it is just plain boring and more annoying. The script is loose and some characters are just so irrelevant to the script. Take for example Tanishaa and Upen Patel.

Also the manner in which Esha falls in love with Tusshar on realizing that he is a don is just so stupid. Just observe the expressions on Esha’s face when she explains her concept of an exciting love story with a bhai.

Most dialogues in the film are plain one liners, most of them not worth remembering. Some scenes evoke a gross feeling rather than being funny. The scene where Paresh Rawal argues with two women over their bra size and the remark that her husband always asks him her size before buying one is gross.

On the acting front, Suniel shetty initially impresses but eventually annoys with the ‘aapka left ya mera left sir?’ dialogue. He tries his Bhola act once again and this time it fails majorly because of a weak script.

Paresh Rawal offers nothing new; he just seems to be repeating his character over and over again. He barely makes you laugh and the so called funny erotic number between Paresh and Sameera could have been avoided.

Tusshar Kapoor fails to impress either with his jokes or few elements of bhaigiri . Upen Patel is absolutely wasted. Manoj Pahwa and Mukesh Tiwari followed by Sanjay Mishra are the best lot in the film. They bring life to their character and also in case of Mukesh , he comes as a revelation in comedy.

The ladies in the film are purely added for the glamour quotient. None of them impress with their acting except for Neetu Chandra who comes in as a surprise package as a cop with not much scope in the film.

Even the pretty Sameera, Esha and Tanishaa can’t complement the music of the film by Raghav Sachar. Some tracks are good but the placement of the tracks kills it all. The title track and the ‘Lakshmi Narayan’ dialogue filled track adds flavor.

On the whole, 123 fails to impress. The jokes get monotonous and the script is loose. Ashwani Dhir maybe be an ace at television but forgets that the comedy in cinema has to be much tighter and crisp, after all you just have 2 ½ hours to make the audience laugh. At the box office it surely means much higher revenues for Abbas Mastan’s RACE.

Film review:

Banner: Mukta Searchlight Films
Cast: Anil Kapoor,Anurag Sinha,Shefali Chhaya,Aditi Sharma,Habib Tanvir,Akash Khurana
Direction: Subhash Ghai
Production: Subhash Ghai

restigious Mukta Arts banner, Subash Ghai returns to direction with Black and White. Subash Ghai, popularly called ‘Showman’ of bollywood for his larger than life images and films of immense magnitude be it a Taal , Kisna or Yaadein; returns this time around with a much smaller film. Smaller in terms of its magnitude, budget and primarily because the film marks the debut of Anurag Sinha who plays the protagonist.


Subash Ghai goes ahead by exploring something new under his belt and steps into the world of terrorism and its harmful effects. Ghai releases this film under the Mukta Searchlight Films.

The film revolves around Numair Qazi [Anurag Sinha], who introduces himself as a victim of communal riots in Gujarat to the people around him. But the truth is that he is a suicide bomber commissioned by a Muslim fundamentalist group to detonate a bomb near Red Fort on 15th August.

In comes Rajan Mathur [Anil Kapoor] a Professor in Urdu literature. He resides in Chandni Chowk with his activist wife Roma [Shifaali Shah].

Numair somehow manages to take shelter in the Professor’s house and wins the trust and fondness of the couple. While helping Numair to get an entry pass for 15th August celebrations at Red Fort, Professor Mathur introduces him to the warm and loving people of Chandni Chowk.

Amidst all the tension, he is caught in an emotional dilemma whether to go ahead with his mission. Despite his deep-rooted fundamentalist beliefs, he sees this as one of the most colorful and loving areas. So what happens next? Will he go ahead with his mission or has there been a change in Numair’s views?

Black and White makes an attempt to look into the psyche of a Muslim fanatic and tries to justify why the so called terrorists think the way they do. But at some point or the other the film fails to leave that impact.

Subash Ghai attempts a genre or theme that has never before been explored by him and thus the film tends to loosen up and give way. Ghai’s direction is not top notch unlike several other flicks that have made Ghai the ‘Showman’ he is. The screenplay of the film is loose and so are the characterizations.

Certain characters in the film seem so wasted, for example the girl falling in love with Numair very much the love at first sight style that too across the terrace of two buildings. In fact the love angle shown is just a waste adding to the film’s length. These characters could have definitely been avoided considering the fact that these characters including the bunch of Sahelis( girl friends) lack the believability factor.

Even the characterization of Numair sometimes seems so dry. We do understand that Mr.Ghai wanted to give him a cold blooded , stoned hearted look but throughout the film , he carries the same expressions with the same tone of voice. Even in scenes where we expect the emotions to outpour, Numair stands firm and robust. The scene where Roma is shot dead by Numair’s collegues , here too Numair just stands there looking at the dead body from the door side and doesn’t emote a bit or even take few steps towards the body lying in the center of the room. Considering the fact that Roma calls Numair her brother and was very dear to him; his emotionless depiction is not justified. We can argue that towards the end Numair shoots the culprits behind the murder but even at that point the cold bloodedness look doesn’t explain whether it was revenge for his Hindu sister or the laws of Islam that forbids the murder of the innocent that provoked him to do so.

Black and White does have its share of good moments and spellbinding scenes. The sequence where Shefali Shah enters into an argument with a local Muslim youth leader and the series of events that turn it into a communal argument with the dialogues followed by Anil Kapoor are impressive.

On the acting front, it is truly Anil Kapoor who is fantastic as the patriotic and just Professor. Anil carries the character with ease and is so impressive with his dialogues moving from a high pitch mentioned in the above sequence to a low pitch at the climax while observing the kids at the parade.

Shefali Shah is very good too and compliments Anil by portraying a realistic wife. Debutant Anurag Sinha does well for a debut but the film actually doesn’t offer much scope to see his versatility as an actor. Guess we will have to wait till his next to see whether or not Anurag shifts from the angry young man to a true bollywood ‘Hero’.

The character portraying the poet is impressive and natural. New find Aditi fails to impress. Milind Gunaji impresses.

Cinematography by Somak Mukherjee is good. Music by Sukwinder Singh doesn’t have much scope in the film yet ‘jogi ayaa’ and ‘main chala’ are good compositions.

On the whole Ghai indeed tries something different but looses out with the screenplay that at times just drags the film along. Nevertheless, Anil Kapoor is worth watching and so is Anurag Sinha. Also with over two weeks since the release of Jodhaa-Akbar comes a film that hits the theatres in a dry week of college exams. So until Race on March21, Black and White fills the theatres.

Film Review:

Banner: UTV Motion Pictures
Cast: Hrithik Roshan,Aishwarya Rai,Sonu Sood,Kulbhushan
Kharbanda,Suhasini Mulay,RazaMurad,Punam Sinha,
Rajesh Vivek,Pramod Moutho,Ila Arun,Surendra Pal,
VisshwaBadola,Prathmesh Mehta
Direction: Ashutosh Gowarikar
Production: Ashutosh Gowarikar, Ronnie Screwvala
Music: A R Rahman

After several reshuffling of dates and over 2 years in the making , UTV and Ashutosh Gowarikar bring to you Jodhaa-Akbar a complete epic in itself. Any comparisons with Mughal-E-Azam or Ashutosh’s previous piece of work should be strictly avoided.

Besides a good star cast and soulful music, Jodhaa-Akbar has much more to offer. Set in the sixteenth century, JODHAA AKBAR is a love story about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to true love between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodhaa. Little did Akbar [Hrithik Roshan] know that when he married Jodhaa [Aishwarya Rai Bachchan], he would be embarking upon a new journey -- the journey of true love.

The daughter of King Bharmal of Amer [Kulbhushan Kharbanda], Jodhaa resented being reduced to a mere political pawn in this marriage of alliance, and Akbar's biggest challenge now did not merely lie in winning battles, but in winning the love of this defiant princess.

Firstly Jodhaa –Akbar isn’t too complex a film to understand, the script and screenplay is simple and above all the language is simple with a mix of Hindi and Urdu.

The characters in the film are so real and leave a heavy impact on you. Only a visionary such as Ashutosh Gowarikar can dare to do such a film. When Ashutosh kept justifying the shuffling of the release date, one thought it was all humbug. But on viewing the film, you are more than convinced that a film of such magnitude indeed requires a lot of courage and patience to firstly shoot it and then edit and compile the various scenes.

It is so obvious on screen the amount of effort put in and the care taken to craft a film such as this. Just observe the casting of the film, besides the prime faces we know of, Ashu brings to you such tremendous talent that fits the bill even with their slightest of roles in the film. For example, take a look at the Villain in the film-Niketan Dheer, he is much taller and built than Hrithik which makes it so believable in the fight sequences that Hrithik is bound to fall when he collides against him. Also take a look at the various kings, the common men depicted in the film, the warriors etc. It’s just apt.

On the performance graph, no one could have possibly played Akbar with such elegance as Hrithik. Hrithik is simply fabulous. It’s not just his body and looks that impress but it is the way Hrithik carries himself throughout the film. He impresses in almost every sequence. Watch out for Hrithik’s duel with the elephant, his sword fight with Aishwariya , his dialogue delivery and expressiveness when he is betrayed by his step-brother. Also the climax fight sequence has some great dialogue delivery from Hrithik.

Aishwariya stands perfect as Jodhaa. Many would state that after Hum Dil Chuke Sanam , Ash is simply at her best in Jodhaa-Akbar. The sequence where she sets her demands before Akbar are impressive. She emotes well in sequences where she is humiliated by Akbar’s step mother played by Ila Arun. She also does well in bringing out that romance and is smooth with the sword sequences.

Sonu Sood is yet another character to watch out for as he portrays Sujamal, Jodhaa’s step-brother with ease. He impresses with both his dialogue delivery and sword handling. Poonam Sinha returns with a terrific guest appearance. Ila Arun freaks you out and watch out for her dialogue delivery with Ash as she expresses how possessive she is of her son Akbar. Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Raza Murad and Rajesh Vivek are all so apt and add to this epic.

Defintely the credit for this magnum opus goes to Ashutosh whose dares to dream big. But, without a skillfull team of technicians this would still be just a dream. Firstly, A.R.Rehman’s music is simply soulful and the right mix for a film such as this. The songs just grow on you and the background score is simply terrific. On leaving the theatre you are sure to hum either the ‘Jashne Bahar’ or ‘Azeem-o-Shaan Shehanshah’ track. The choregraphy and picturisation of ‘Azeem-o-Shaan Shehanshah’ is splendid.The song that was shot in 12 days is rich in colour , choreography, camera movments- you name it, it carries all. It’s been a while since the Indian Audiences have ever seen something like this.

Kiiran Deohans brings in topnotch cinematography. You are simply floored by the way the camera tracks out from low below the horse’s legs and various other sequences show you simply how brilliant the D.O.P is. Take a look at even simple sequences where Ash’s brings in a curtain to separate Hrithik from her and the conversation between the two is shot with great style.

Haider Ali teams up with Ashu to bring a screenplay that is highly researched, interesting and very impressive. The length of the film is indeed 3hrs 20 mins but , Haider and Ashu can’t be fully blamed for it.Haider does a cameo in the film , he is seen in the ‘Khwaja Mere Khwaja’ track. K.P.Saxena’s dialogues are terrific. They are simple and carry the aura that an epic such as this requires. Take a look at the dialogue when Akbar takes on Jodhaa in a swordfight .The costumes by Neeta Lulla are so rich , apt and terrific. The costumes just make the characters stand out.

To sum it up Ashutosh has taken great care and pain in bringing us an epic. Even the animals in the film have been dealt with great care and surprisingly you don’t have a single scene where horses are made to fall , elephants rolling etc unlike those done in epics before. Ashu simply proves that he is a master of crowd sequences right from Lagaan to Jodhaa-Akbar, just take a look at the number of people that fill the screen.

The only drawback of the film is it’s heavy length which can’t really be dealt with as Ashu attempts to compress years of history and bring it to the masses in just 3hrs 20 Mins. Kudos Ashu!

Film Review:

Banner: Aamir Khan Productions, PVR Cinema
Cast: Aamir Khan,Tanay Chheda,Darsheel Safary,Tisca Chopra
Direction: Aamir Khan
Production: Aamir Khan
Music: Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonca

Welcome (pun intended) to the world of Walt Disney in India! Yes, that’s exactly how Aamir Khan, debuting as director, and his creative team package the film, making a classic entertainer that does not bore a second at 18 reels on a subject as socially-vital as dyslexia. So all you Revathis, Farhan Akhtars and Ashutosh Gowarikers et al out there who think that social issues need dry and drab treatments get ready for Mr Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), a colourful arts teacher who – rightly and vitally – believes that every child is special, whether dyslexic or physically- and mentally-challenged.

And in this lies hidden the great myth about dyslexia, a disorder that spans a diversity of symptoms but is found only in children with above-average intelligence, imagination and emotional quotient. Taare… could have emerged as a cloying or crawling docu-drama without the colours in which Nikumbh and his favourite student Ishaan so boldly love to dabble. Instead, Khan uses his superstardom and his family tradition of full-on entertainers (his uncle and role model Nasir Husain) and his acting icon Shammi Kapoor’s mantra of universal connect to make a film that is vibrant and funny but stunningly moving and impact-laden too.

The top billing over the superstar to Harsheel Daftary who plays the clumsy, carefree, conventionally “duffer” and internally-suffering Ishaan is completely justified. The boy delivers a performance that can only be called stupendous, and no doubt a few more words can be added from the Thesaurus. Taare delights, touches, elevates, instructs and motivates both such children and adults who have to deal with such offsprings, students and kids in general, and full marks and more to the creative teams – writer and creative director Amole Gupte and his wife Deepa Bhatia who is responsible for the concept, the painstaking and authentic research and the compassionate editing that does not cut off scenes for dramatic brevity when detailing is vital.

While the climax of Lagaan was set in a cricket match, here it is in an art competition, but the effect is as rivetting and cheering. Ishaan, the underdog, the boy who is a ‘disgrace’ to his parents, school and orthodox teachers with his blunders, low marks and aggressive behaviour blooms into the hero of the day, all because of the farsighted and motivated Nikumbh ‘Sir’ who waters this human plant with compassion, sympathy and affection instead of pouring reprimands, beatings, criticisms and ridicule on him!

The film takes care to paint the parents, hassled from their own perspective, as real, believable people who are ignorant of the enormity of the problem and where it can lead the loveless Ishaan. Ishaan’s animation diary is the masterstroke in the film (which has to be seen on screen rather than described) and the sledgehammer impact of Ishaan’s father’s second interaction with Nikumbh is another dramatic highpoint. Through subtly effective rather than in-your-face methods, the film spotlights vital points, like laws about handling dyslexics, the gifts of handicapped children, the lack of individual attention in schools, physical punishments, academic pressures of performance on small children and other rampant evils in the socio-educational fabric of Indian society.

Incredibly, the script even brings out dry facts in an interesting fashion through visuals and dialogues, and if cinematic license is taken in Nikumbh’s idealistic character, it is only to highlight how much better Indian children would be today if teachers and the system thought out-of-the-box even with normal children!

A word about the animation by Tata Elxsi – it is nothing short of fantabulous, and the same goes for the dialogues (Amole) and the outstanding lyrics (Prasoon Joshi) especially in “Maa”. Amole contributes here too, with “Mera jahaan”. The music (except for “Maa” and the title-track) could have been much better, ditto the background score. But Setu’s camerawork and Shruti Gupte’s production design are extraordinary and thankfully again, very ‘Indian film’ and bright. No noir or ‘mood’ rubbish here – the film is too progressive and bright for that!

The rest of the performances are no less, even if some of the teachers are intentionally caricature-like. Aamir Khan is effortless, his artless performance in the more dramatic and intense scenes packing a zor ka dhakka dheere se lage wallop. The kids are simply wonderful, especially Sachet Engineer as Ishaan’s bright brother who unwittingly makes things worse by his all-round genius and Tanay Chheda as the crippled Rajan, Ishaan’s best friend in class.

Here’s a film of which its makers and we as Indians can be truly proud. A film for every human being who realizes that the future of mankind lies in how he nurtures today’s children. If this film does not win any Best Film award this year, it will be the awards’ loss. For rarely have entertainment and message so exquisitely combined in Hindi cinema.