Taare Zameen Par (2007) (Hindi)

It would be so unfair of me if I don't comment on one of the best movies that Bollywood has ever produced. I used to think that great actors can also be great directors. Aamir Khan proved me right! Even Denzel Washington proved the same in "The Great Debaters" movie.

Coming to the movie itself, in lot of websites, I read "Taare Zameen Par is a movie about a child, Ishaan Awasthi (Darsheel Safary), who suffers with dyslexia blah blah blah"... but for some reason, I feel Taare Zameen Par is a movie about a teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), who searches for his happiness in other's faces.

Ishaan suffers from dyslexia and always fails in his exams. So his dad decides to join him in a boarding school, thinking that Ishaan needs discipline. First half of the movie is completely packed with Ishaan. And Ishaan did an excellent job, I must say. The journey of Ishaan's parents to their way back home after leaving him at boarding school is worth an appreciate. There you can see feelings of Mr. Awasthi, he is disappointed with his kid and you can see the disappointment in his face very clearly. Ishaan's brother cries at beginning of the journey and goes to sleep later on. But Mrs. Awasthi, Ishaan's mother, couldn't control and weeps all over the journey. Aaamir did an excellent job in portraying these characters so naturally. Isn't that true? Mother's love isn't something that pale over the time... And a father is always concern about his children's future.

I felt little bored with the over dosage of Ishaan in the first half. Then comes our hero cum director Aamir Khan in the second half of the movie as a art teacher to Ishaan's class. Aamir completely steals the show from here. He soon realizes that Ishaan suffers from dyslexia. Mr. Nikumbh also had the same problem when he was a kid. Ram knows that he can cure Ishaan. The process he picked to cure Ishaan really impressed me.

Ram gives special care and attention towards Ishaan. He praises Ishaan whenever he gets a chance. Ishaan gets really impressed when he comes to know that Ram went to his house. So equally, Ishaan starts loving Ram. Ram succeeds in making Ishaan a normal boy, just like any other regular eight year old. But, that's not the end of story.

At end of the movie, Ram Shankar organizes a painting competition in his school. I was really really really impressed to see Ram Shankar painting Ishaan's smiling face as his entry for the competition! How else can you make someone feel special? How else can you show your love on someone? Did you ever make someone feel special? Do it! Then you will know what real happiness is... I STRONGLY believe that one's happiness lies in other's happiness. Make something that makes someone feel special, look at the happiness in their face because of you. That is REAL happiness. Mr. Nikumbh did the same thing. He even runs a school Tulips for children with disabilities. Mr. Nikumbh searches his happiness in these innocent children faces.

Finally, Ishaan's parents come to pick him up for summer holidays. Then they will come to know that Ishaan is a merit student! Ram's caring and loving turned a failure to a winner! I am sure, with his Love, Ram can turn the disabled students in his Tulips school to someone worthy!

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

3:10 to Yuma encouraged me to start writing a blog. I watched this movie yesterday and told the same to couple of my friends. Unfortunately, they didn't like it! But, I liked it!! So, I thought I should put my views and comments about this movie and some other movies which I like in a blog. So here we go, I started this blog...[I am assuming that the reader already watched the movies I am commenting upon]

This movie is about a man called Dan Evans (Christian Bale), who is one-legged, and always bow to the situations and never fight back. I think any family guy would think in the same lines. If you are married, you seldom use the word "I"; it's always "WE". So before he takes any decision, he has to think about his wife and two sons.

Dan loses his leg in a friendly fire when he was a part of retreat. He is NO HERO. So, his 14 year kid always looks at him like a loser. There are couple of instances in the movie where his elder son shows that "loser" feeling on his father. Like, in beginning of the movie couple of guys will burn Dan's ranch. Dan stops his son when he tries to shoot them and says "I will take care of it". Immediately, his son responds "No, you won't". Dan knows how his son feels about him.

One day, Dan victims a robbery by Ben Wade (Russell Crown) and his gang. Ben gets caught by police in a hotel. Railroad representative Mr. Butterfield asks for couple of paid volunteers to escort Ben to Contention and put him on a train to Yuma at 3:10 PM, three days from now. Dan immediately agrees upon the task for a charge of $200. One would think Dan volunteered for sheer money to save his ranch. But, Dan was thinking of something else! Yes, he wants to impress his son by putting this deadly convict, who killed 100s of people and robbed government wealth for 22 times, in Yuma prison.

Dan and couple of other guys will start to Contention with Ben. Knowing this, Dan's son couldn't stay at home and follows his father without his knowledge (Still he feels his father couldn't do it!). In their journey Dan loses everybody. He will be left with Ben, his son and Mr.Butterfield, the Railroad representative. Ben offers Dan for more money . But he never accepts. Dan asks his son and Mr. Butterfield to stay in a hotel in Contention and takes Ben to the train all by himself. Ben's gang are all over Contention to save their boss. The way I felt is, Ben's gang is there not for him, but for the ideas he gives! Yes, Ben is the mastermind behind all robberies and the gang helps him. So, without Ben, his gang wouldn't know how to rob.

Ben and Dan have to walk half-mile in Contention to reach the train. At one point, Ben beats Dan and asks him to go home else he will be dead. Then Dan says "I'm no hero, Ben. I was part of a retreat and got my leg shot off by friendly fire. Try telling that story to your sons and see how they look at you then". Till this part of the movie, one would think that Dan is all doing this for $200. But no, he wants to impress his son who always gives "loser" looks to him. He wants to be a hero in front of his kids. Ben realizes Dan's feelings and helps him in reaching the train. Later, Ben says he was kept in Yuma prison for two times and escaped both the times. Ben knows even if he gets on to this train, he would escape. So, he wants to help a father who is doing his duty to save his family with little money and at the same time impress his sons.

At end of the movie, Dan reaches the train to Yuma with Ben. But immediately he will be shot by Ben's gang. Ben shoots all his gang members and goes into the train. Just before Dan dies, his son will come to him and says "You did it, Pa"! Yes Dan, you did it! You saved your ranch and remained as a hero in your son's heart.