He could pass off as the neighbourhood Santa Claus with his straggling beard and the twinkling eyes hued with a rare compassion and a piercing intensity. And he presented kids, parents and teachers an invaluable Christmas gift in Taare Zameen Par. Amole Gupte, writer and creative director of this masterpiece, is a man on a mission.

“I am basically a painter involved in many activities pertaining to children, though I also made ad and corporate films, which I stopped completely when I began research on TZP in 2002. I conduct art and theatre workshops for children in various institutes and schools in Mumbai,” says Amole.

The word ‘workshop’ is used for convention, says Amole. “I call it having fun with children and sharing abilities.

We have to realise that a child is not a factory product and cannot be expected to have a standard construction. Children are bundles of emotions that are usually shackled or suppressed, so I have to put my best foot forward in their service. They need an unpaid lawyer and that’s my job!”

Raking in accolades for a message film that is a supremely-entertaining blockbuster, Amole feels vindicated. “My subject was not an off-stream esoteric one. I just put a mirror before everyone and asked, ‘Is the existing quality of parenting and teaching taking children in the right direction?’ ”

How does he explain a technically-exemplary debut script? “Well, I have been a student of cinema for 25 years,” he smiles. “I realise that to touch the viewer you have to present a cauldron of emotions that makes you more human. All the characters and situations were close to life, not nebulous or fanciful. Every single human could say, “I am that father, or child or teacher!”

The protagonist, Ishaan, was synthesised from the incredibly-voluminous research of more than 5000 children over six years, including with the Maharashtra Dyslexic Association and Medha Lotliker’s school for Special Children.

Says Amole with intensity, “What we have to avoid is the slotting of children under different widely-accepted labels like dyslexic, ADHD and so on. Slotting generates problems for all and especially the child — and they never end. We have to understand that every child is wired differently, has different likes, dislikes, fears and fortes.

Why are we binding them to fixed things in every single aspect?”

Nikumbh, the character Aamir Khan plays, is however drawn from Amole’s art teacher, the late Ramdas Sampat Nikhumbh. “Even in a field like art, we are binding students into geometrical shapes, like the first art teacher shown in my film. Why can’t a child be allowed to explore with his pencils or brushes? My teacher did that!” He concludes, “We have to identify what are society’s problems and not those of children.” And from the response to TZP, Amole is happy that though society is going wrong, the heart of the nation is intact and there’s lots of hope. A battle has been won, though the war is on.