Taare Zameen Par v/s "Taare" Zameen Par (Film stars on Earth)

Most of us reading this blog have watched Taare Zameen Par (TZP) and I am quite sure all of us definitely agree it is one of the better movies churned out by Bollywood in recent times. But were you, like me, fooled by the climax too? Read on to find out...

Media was rife with a popular controversy involving Amol Gupte and Aamir Khan soon after the release of this wonderful movie. Some claimed that Mr.Gupte was the guy behind the wheels and not Mr.Khan. I am a huge fan of Aamir but I cannot help but take sides with Mr.Amol Gupte on this controversy and I can explain why. Amol in one of his interviews outlines the climax he had in his mind for TZP.

But before we go on to Amol's climax, let us cut back to the original climax for a moment. Ishaan wins the art competition and soon after, his parents are shown visiting the school and this time all his teachers are exalting his grades. All's well that ends well and the viewers are left with the image of a joyous Ishaan being thrown up in the air by Aamir. But isn't that destroying the very essence of the subject. Think about it for a moment. The movie was all along riding on the tracks of "Academic excellence or success is not the end of the road for kids". The movie was all about portraying the struggle of a talented yet dyslexic kid trying to gain acceptance in family and social circles. It was never meant to be the battle of a slow learner versus a super academic achiever. With an ending like this, the viewer is more inclined towards crediting Aamir with turning around the kid's future. That is precisely the kind of ending a "star" would think of. Think also about the practical possibilities of such a ending. From writing "t"s backwards to excellent grades in 5 months flat is beyond any dyslexic kid's abilities. Now here is the ending a man like Amol who was involved with researching the subject for 7 years had envisioned. Ishaan's father meets his son, the next day, kneels down so that his eyes meet his son's (probably signifying how the father has finally achieved the ability to bend down to his kid's level and understand his difficulties) and embraces his son. The final image that Amol wanted his viewers to be left with was a flipbook drawn by Ishaan. As the flipbook rolls, you now see a kid returning back to his family and joining his parents and brother. (think about this versus the flipbook he had drawn earlier).

Oh yeah! Probably the second ending would have meant 10% lower collections in the B-grade movie centers of interior Uttarakhand but it definitely would have gelled more with the subject and commanded greater appreciation.
Mr.Gupte, I vote for you.