Taare Zameen Par: The only Indian movie ever to focus on Learning Disabilities

‘Taare Zameen Par’ one of Amir Khan’s most appreciated works, is the only Indian film which talks about the problems of dyslexia to the masses.

What is dyslexia? Is it really a problem or just a bunch of lazy teenagers and kids trying to escape their work by stating “we are dyslexic” which is rarely considered as a problem?

Well, dyslexia is a neurological disorder which causes difficulty in learning and reading and is the most common learning disability to affect a child.

Symptoms of dyslexia show up from a young age. If these problems are overlooked, these kids tend to become ‘dyslexic adults’ in future but if the affected people are carefully nurtured and well-treated, they could easily overcome the disease. Also, some kids cure themselves without any help, but such cases are very rare.

Dyslexia is considered a stigma and is often overlooked and actually never taken that seriously.

‘Taare Zameen Par’ is a film which beautifully portrays the truth of dyslexia through the help of a 8 year old dyslexic boy Ishaan Awasthi and his drawing teacher Ram Shankar Nikumbh.

Well, like any other Indian parents, Ishaan’s parents thought that their kid was just dumb and stubborn and too lazy and unwilling to study. Often, they compared Ishaan with his elder brother who excelled both in academics as well as non-academics. They sent Ishaan to a boarding school with the hope that the strict disciplinary environment would set their kid on the right track. Did it go well, as they thought? Absolutely not. There is a proverb in English” Man proposes. God disposes.” His parents resorted to put him under strict discipline and were somewhat merciless to do so, however parents have every right to be strict. Yet in this case strictness would have no impact and unintentionally they became the reason for Ishaan’s breakdown. Depression and negative thoughts engulfed Ishaan. He felt low, worthless, lonely and even suicidal thoughts were common to Ishaan, then. He thought everyone hated him even his own mother. The entry of his drawing teacher in his life changed his life and his perspective about life. Nikumbh could identify Ishaan’s hidden talent and encouraged him and helped him to overcome his difficulty. No one ever understood that he was not stupid or unwilling to study, he wanted to study but he was just having difficulty to do so and so he failed to excel. Nikumbh was the only mentor to do so and finally, his parents understood their fault, when Nikumbh brought about a complete change in Ishaan.

Well, there are lots of Ishaans here but not everybody has a mentor like Nikumbh. Few can overcome this problem on their own, few get mentors and others get unnoticed in depression and suicidal thoughts.

People rarely talk about dyslexia, they actually hardly consider ‘this’ as a disease. Like Ishaan’s parents , most of the folk think that their kids are deliberately doing this, they refuse to accept that their kids are facing some kind of disease.

People need to realize that this is not something that is ‘deliberate’ and having a disease is not something that one should be ashamed of. One should help the ’dyslexic person’ to overcome it rather than labeling him/her as ‘lazy or dumb’.

Films attract the attention of the masses. Films not only can spread messages at once to a large crowd but also people get emotionally attracted to it. Movies make abstractions real and so, often people try to learn from them.

Dyslexia or any other learning disabilities like Dyscalculia or Dysgraphia is a problem which has been hidden and unnoticed. Voices should be raised against the ill-treatment towards dyslexic children. Movie industry is one such wonderful platform to discuss this problem openly.

Its rather better to have movies like ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘Chhichhore’ , ‘3 Idiots’, ‘Paa’ etc, where they propagate such beautiful messages of life lessons to the masses than films which depart us from reality like ‘Student of the year’, ‘Judwaa 2’ etc.

More inspiring movies should come up that can change people’s perspective. So, yes we need more movies like ‘Taree Zameen Par’ which can help to spread the message and fight the stigma of dyslexia.