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Movie:		5.0
Picture:		7.0
Sound:		8.0
Extras:		7.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Aamir Khan
Writer(s):	Amole Gupte
Starring:	Darsheel Safary • Aamir Khan • Tanay Chheda • Sachet Engineer • Tisca Chopra • Vipin Sharma
Genre:	Children & Family • Comedy • Drama
Website:	http://www.taarezameenpar.com/
Release Date:	January 12, 2010
Rated:

List Price:	DVD - $22.99
Amazon:

Every once in a while, I’m forced to confront the fact that I’m completely outside of a film’s target demographic, and Like Stars On Earth is just one of those films. An import from India, the film is a cornerstone in Disney’s plan to open up new markets by creating new cultural brands, and follows up on the promise made by The Princess and the Frog to bring a little diversity to the House of Mouse. Whether it will successfully give Indian cinema the foothold in mainstream culture that people have been trying to give it since Slumdog Millionaire won Best Picture is another story. While the story has all of the predictable beats and emotional high notes that would seem to strike a chord with American audiences, many of the filmmaking sensibilities on display here are likely to seem distinctly foreign to viewers on our shores, and I must, unfortunately count myself in that category.

Ishaan (Darsheel Safary) is an eight-year-old boy whose life is ‘filled with wonders’ (according to the box), which essentially translates to witnessing all sorts of strangely animated visions that emerge from objects in everyday life (example: when looking at words on a page). Basically, he’s an eight-year-old, but with his imagination put on an entirely literal level for us to watch. Unfortunately, this does not translate into a well-disciplined educational life, much to the chagrin of his parents (Tisca Chopra and Vipin Sharma). Out of frustration, they send Ishaan to a ‘special’ school, where he is placed alongside other boys who are not expected to get any better. However, there he meets Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), a fun, exciting teacher who is better able to respond to his specific needs and break him out of his shell.

Not having spent a good deal of time abroad, I can only speak in terms of generalizations, but it seems apparent to me that people in many foreign countries look at filmgoing in a very different way than we do. In my experience, Americans tend to schedule film watching alongside other activities (i.e. planning a trip to the multiplex into a day at the mall, to perpetuate the biggest stereotype that I possibly could), whereas filmgoers in a nation with an active film industry like India might be more inclined to schedule an entire day around it. This is suggested by the fact that all ten of the highest grossing films worldwide are over two and a half hours long, and when the length of a film like this is compared with a thematically similar American film. Dead Poet’s Society? A hundred and twenty eight minutes. Patch Adams? A hundred and fifteen. This movie? A whopping hundred and sixty five. This is one long haul just to find out that an eight-year-old has an easily treatable learning disorder.

I should probably point out now that I didn’t really enjoy this movie. I’ve never especially cared for movies where the only point seems to be to make people feel good about themselves, and I also found the notion that any learning impairment causes you to live in an Amelie-esque fantasy world kind of suspect. These problems, on their own, might not have been a big deal, but they were compounded exponentially by the film’s monumental length (this film is ten minutes shorter than The Godfather), which made every predictable point in the film belabored to the point of exhaustion. By the time that all of the characters have gotten to where you know pretty early on that they’re going to get to, the movie has extrapolated its tagline (every child is special) to such a degree that it’s difficult to believe that Khan had a single idea for this film that he did not put into it.

My suspicion that I was out of touch with the film’s target audience was immediately confirmed when I looked at the Amazon page and saw that literally every review given to the film was five stars. Naturally, I’m not going to tell anyone that he or she is wrong for liking it, and I imagine that families that have dealt with dyslexia would have a completely different response than the one that I had. Most of all, I just want to marvel at their patience, which would appear to be much greater than mine. This could be a mere difference of taste, but when it gets right down to it, people speak different languages in more ways than one.

DVD Bonus Features

Panel Discussion On Children - several experts in their respective industries discuss dyslexia.

Deleted Scenes - Turns out I was wrong about him not cutting anything.

Making Of - A rather well-produced documentary on the making of the film.

Feature Commentary by Aamir Khan - further evidence that, all artistic differences aside, he really is a nice guy, and fairly articulate with regards to his directorial process.

Collection of Promotions From The Film

Trailers

CD of the Film’s Soundtrack