‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ Movie Review: Aamir Khan shines in film about human redemption

You have got to hand it to Aamir Khan: he does it again (Taare Zameen Par after Lagaan) and again (Secret Superstar, Laapataa Ladies). And now yet again!

Sitaare Zameen Par is an outstanding confection of feel-good entertainment, mainstream cinema conventions, a novel theme and social messages.

Unlike Taare Zameen Par, where Aamir was an idealistic teacher, this time, in his own words, he is the “antagonist”. His Gulshan Arora is a cynical, arrogantly obnoxious basketball coach with warped ideas on life and relationships. He is separated from his wife (Genelia Deshmukh) because he does not want a child. Suspended now from the sports board for misconduct, he is arrested for drunk driving and escapes jail due to a clean record.

The judge ‘sentences’ him to three months of training students with disabilities instead. Appalled at their conduct, Gulshan detests them as they ‘torment’ him in different ways. Worse is to come as is told to train them for a national championship.

The story (based on Javier Fesser’s Spanish film, Campeones) is beautifully adapted to the Indian ethos by Divy Nidhi Sharma and directed by R S Prasanna. He skillfully explores the depths of human redemption.

The film showcases towering performances from the debutants, each with a disability: Ashish Pendse, Aroush Datta, Aayush Bhansali, Rishi Shahani, GopiKrishnan K Verma, Rishabh Jain, Vedant Sharma, Simran Mangeshkar, Samvit Desai and Naman Misra.

Aamir’s arrogant body language and facial expressions perfectly demonstrate his imperfections. Dolly Ahluwalia Tewari as his mother, Brijendra Kala as the cook and Gurpal Singh as the manager stand out along with Genelia as Gulshan’s wife.

I would term this film ‘unmissable’.