If cinema reflects the moral temperament of its maker, then Aamir Khan is a saint. There is so much heart in Sitaare Zameen Par! Director R S Prasanna takes the core of a mediocre Spanish film and transforms the noble thought into something tenable yet magical.
The storytelling is so redolent of innocence and artlessness, even a seemingly trivial act like taking a bath acquires an existential epiphanic tenor. This sequence happens when our basketball coach Gulshan Arora (Aamir Khan) coaxes one of his specially abled team members who is afraid of water, into taking a bath.
The arcadian fairytale humour of the entire sequence buoyed by the presence of a CG-generated frog, secretes a Disneyesque innocence that doesn’t quite gel with the current comedic climate of overgrown juvenile delinquents peering down blouses and skirts.
This is the other side of Housefull, the reassuringly uncorrupted side, and a blessing on that account. Prasanna’s direction is tender and he handles the characters with indulgence and patience. The specially abled cast is given ample space and time to come into their own. There are no shortcuts in Gulshan’s journey from brazen bigotry (“Pagal ko pagal na kahun toh aur kya kahoon?”) to a painfully prolonged process of sensitization.
The basic thought—who are we to judge what is normal and what is not?— is threaded into a series of encounters between the smug coach (someone knowledgeable describes Gulshan as a “suwar” a pig, considering how hungover Gulshan looks it could be sewer) and the basketball team of specially abled players who, admittedly come across at times as unnecessarily cocky.
Perhaps the otherwise-uncompromising narration tends to get slightly anxious about the audiences’ involvement. This brings in a mood of nervous anxiety in some of the moments between the protagonist and his quirky team. We get it, they are special in ways more than one. The over-punctuation in the grammar of deviation is uncalled for. We have the only female in the team Golu Khan (Simran Mangeshkar) making a late entry like a boss, being repeatedly represented as a rebel. Golu (the rebel) is even shown—gulp!—smoking, when the poor actress can’t even hold the cigarette properly.
Also, that ignominious subplot about Gulshan’s mother (the delightfully droll Dolly Ahluwalia) marrying her househelp (Brijendra Kala) is an awkward and improper manifestation of the “liberal” attitude a film such as this, blissfully wedded to breaking the rules, is eager to demonstrate.
Gulshan’s floundering marriage with the excitable Sunita (Genelia D’Souza, who is likeable but prone to overact) is on firmer ground, as far as the protagonist’s relationships off the basketball court are concerned.
But the ardent digressions could have been avoided: the film could have stuck to the coach-and-coached theme and edited an hour of the digressions.
That said, there is plenty—oh yes, plenty!—in Sitaare Zameen Par to remind us that cinema in Hindi with a heart and balls, is not dead. Far from it. Aamir Khan’s constantly hungover look goes a long way in sharpening the compassionate clause in the storytelling. His monologue at the end when he sums up what he has learnt about normalcy and life from his team, is profoundly moving.
Those are not fake tears. This is not a film about glycerine goals.
