Taare Zameen Par

Aamir Khan's first directorial venture is a languidly paced story about a dyslexic child struggling to come to grips with the expectations at home and away. Its a film with a message, and as with all such films, there is the danger of the story losing itself in the search for the moral high ground.

But Aamir manages to steer away from the dangers by concentrating his camera on the beauty and the little pleasures of childhood. His focus is constantly on the child, Ishaan Awasthi, than on the child's saviour. He brings to life the little moments in Ishaan's life which appear incongruous when seen from adult eyes - his pleasure in the tiny fishes captured from the gutter and given a place of pride in his fishbowl, in playing with the flea-ridden mongrels waiting for him to return from school, his wonder at seeing a man climbing up a scaffolding to paint the sides of a building. Seen through Ishaan's eyes, these everyday moments appear magical. So what if capturing the little fishes means getting your hair and hands soaked with gutter water? So what if those street dogs tear apart the exam papers sent by the teachers to be viewed and signed by your parents? So what if you have to bunk out of school to see the man dare to climb up that magnificent scaffolding? So what if you have to beg your elder brother to write an absent letter so mom doesnt find out about your bunking classes? As Ishaan puts it, "Bindaas!"

And so what if your scores in every subject are in the low single digits? If the teachers at school, and parents at home, do not understand that Ishaan has a problem with reading and writing, why should the 8-yr old point it out as a problem - he would much rather just say he doesnt want to learn! That ensures his "Bindaas" reputation after all. But when Ishaan is packed off to boarding school by his father, furious with his non-performance at school and concerned about his future, Ishaan finds himself alone in a world where studying by rote is mistaken as academic excellence. His one passion, the one thing which he is truly brilliant at, painting is also suppressed under the pressure of catching up with his fellow students.

Aamir Khan's achievement is multi-fold - his visualization of the childs internal world is wonderfully vivid. Borrowing a page out of Calvin & Hobbes to show Ishaan working out a math question, and later showing his angst and anguish at being considered a 'duffer' - Aamir shows a brilliant aptitude for taking us into the child's mind. He avoids taking up a preaching tone at any time and his criticism of parental pressure is pointed, but discreet. And when you see Ishaan standing at the edge of a precipice, staring blank eyed into the depths, you want to reach out and pull him back, explain to him that its all going to be alright soon. Somehow, you feel that this must be how so many kids become suicidal.

There are many sequences in the movie which stay in the mind. Ishaan's wanderings through the streets of Mumbai; his first day at the boarding school, with the haunting "Meri Maa" song in the background; Aamir's visit to Ishaan's home to investigate why this little kid is so quiet and inward; and of course the uplifting finale with a painting competition which makes you feel like buying an easel and some paint and whip out a few canvasses of your own.

The music fits in very well with the film, and songs like "Jame Raho", "Meri Maa" and "Kholo Kholo Darwaaze" are quite hummable. The lyrics by Prasoon Joshi are some of the best in recent years - very cohesive with the story and emphasising the child's inner turmoil. And then there is the artwork - wonderful paintings, clay sculptures etc which add together to make this movie a visual treat too.

Overall, its a great debut from Aamir the director. Its a great continuation to Aamir the actor's career - saying that he is excellent in his role is almost redundant. You really have to dig deep to find the roles where Aamir has been less than excellent. And its also the debut of a wonderful new child actor, Darsheel Safary, as Ishaan he lives the role. He is brilliant. So is the movie, definitely one of the best of 2007.

Johnny Gaddar

Lovers of good crime thrillers in India, rejoice! Here comes Johnny Gaddar with a thrill-a-minute ride without resorting to histrionics and melodrama. Or to Bunty-Babli style histerical repentance for all the fun you just had!

I had a great deal of expectation from Sriram Raghavan's second movie. His first was the taut revenge drama "Ek Hasina Thi" and he delivers big time. JG is a straight crime thriller where there are no purely good or evil characters. Each of the characters are given screen time to flesh them out and to show them in proud shades of grey.

So we have Dharm paaji playing the leader of the gang of no-gooders without any Godfather airs and without an army of thugs around him. He lives alone and in his twilight years still possesses enough guile and strength to not be bothered by it. His partners in crime include - Prakash (Vinay Pathak) who manages a gambling den for the gang, but has a weakness for the cards himself; Shardul (Zakir Hussain) who is possibly the wealthiest and definitely the flashiest of the gang, runs a night club, and is married to Rimi Sen; Shiva (Daya) provides the muscle and is given responsibility to carry the money for the gang to Bangalore where he needs to close a deal for them; and finally Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who is the youngest and we find out the sharpest of the gang.

Its Vikram's illicit affair with Rimi Sen which leads him to double crossing the gang for the money. Oh, and also his love for James Hadley Chase novels and old Hindi mystery movies. Relax, spoiler-phobes, this all from the first fifteen minutes of the movie.

The decision once made, the rest of the movie deals with Vikrams plans on cheating the gang out of the money. And of course, with the James Hadley Chase reference, its clear that not all goes according to plan.

The direction is slick and never slackens the pace of the movie. The performances are excellent from the entire cast. The plot twists and turns without becoming too predictable at any time. The dynamics within the gang are shown very realistically and its not hard to believe that this is probably how things are done in the unorganised underworld. And the con-man in this movie is not shown to be so amazingly good as to fool his much more experienced colleagues, there is a good deal of luck involved. But will his luck hold through?

The answering of that question keeps the audience on the edge of the seat. And you couldnt ask for more from a thriller. Heres to many more films by Raghavan, India's answer to Quentin Tarantino, and much fewer from the RGV factory!!