Sitaare Zameen Par director RS Prasanna isn't fazed by remake chatter around Aamir Khan film: Film will have the answers
Filmmaker RS Prasanna is returning to the big screen after an eight-year gap. His last release was Shubh Mangal Savdhaan back in 2017. The filmmaker has moved from telling the story of a man with erectile dysfunction to narrating the tale of an angry basketball coach training a team of special needs kids. His upcoming film, Sitaare Zameen Par, stars Aamir Khan in the lead, along with Genelia D'Souza and ten newcomers. (Also read: Aamir Khan is a legend who acts like a newcomer when newcomers act like legends: Sitaare Zameen Par director RS Prasanna)
Sitaare Zameen Par's trailer was released over a month ago, garnering much love from the fans for its subject as well as Aamir's performance. A few, however, pointed out that the trailer was very similar to Hollywood film Champions, and the Spanish film Campeones, which inspired it.
But the chatter around the remake and copy jibes does not bother Prasanna. "I just feel the film will have the answers. It is best for the director to talk through the film. As far as I am concerned, there is so much love for the film. I am consumed by that," he tells HT.
When asked if he is not concerned by the discussions, Prasanna simply says, "I am just consumed by the love for the film."
Earlier this month, Aamir also discussed the criticism of remakes while appearing on Raj Shamani's podcast. The actor said, "After Laal Singh (Chaddha), a lot of people told me, 'you are making a remake again'. Laal Singh was trolled heavily for being a remake. But I am a different kind of person. I don't understand practical things. I don't have any problem with a remake, and I don't feel my creativity is diminishing at all. For me, it is new work. Someone else made this story, and I am giving it my perspective." Laal Singh Chaddha, Aamir's previous film, was also a remake, being the official adaptation of Forrest Gump.
Aamir further defended film remakes by equating them with theatrical adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, calling the discussion on remakes 'useless'.
Apart from Aamir, Sitaare Zameen Par also stars 10 newcomers, all actors with intellectual disabilities, who play his proteges. Talking about the challenges and rewards of directing them, Prasanna says, "You don't climb Mount Everest because it's easy. You do it for the glory. You love the adrenaline rush. In the 10 sitaare we have cast, all we were looking for was that keeda (itch) to act. Everything else can be taught. We created a mini acting school for them with acting workshops and clowning workshops, just as it is for any other new actor."
Sitaare Zameen Par is a spiritual sequel to Aamir's 2007 film, Taare Zameen Par. The film also stars Genelia D'Souza in a pivotal role. The film is scheduled to release theatrically on 20 June.
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Sitaare Zameen Par Movie Review & Rating: An insensitive, full-of-himself basketball coach, suspended from his job, finds himself doing community service: in three months he has to shape a group of young adults, largely with Down Syndrome, into a team that is capable of participating in tournaments. Based on the 2018 Spanish film Campeones, 'Sitaare Zameen Par' adopts the original's determinedly cheery vein to win its matches; in the process, it also wins our hearts. Gulshan (Aamir Khan) is the guy with an attitude problem, and he uses it to make everyone around him unhappy. His wife Sunita (Genelia d'Souza) wants a baby. He doesn't. His senior coach wants compliance. Gulshan behaves badly. A drunk driving incident leads him, reluctance and truculence firmly in place, to a vocational centre for people with special needs. 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Borrowing the tone from the original, 'Sitaare Zameen Par' chooses to stay on the side of laughter, and it's a wise decision, because what you can convey to the average person through laughs sometimes has more weight than wrung-out-tears. The last time I watched an effective film showcasing a character with Downs was Nikhil Pherwani's 'Ahaan' which should have been watched by more people; 'Sitaare' has the starry heft to go out far and wide, and I'm happy that it's more feel-good than feel-bad. Watch Sitaare Zameen Par Movie trailer here: Because, make no mistake, this is a film whose express intention is to normalise 'everyone's normal'. It doesn't shy away from being message-y –sab ka apna apna normal hota hai—but it is not, praise be, preachy. It is here to tell us that parents and caregivers who live with youngsters with Downs (autism is also mentioned in a couple of places, which is fine because one of the youngsters in the film has Aspergers Syndrome, but in one startlingly misleading instance, a character mentions 'invisible autism': what's that?) are allergic, and rightly so, to the word 'bechaara': the need of the hour has always been acceptance, not pity. Because acceptance means taking collective responsibility for those who are 'different', not off-hand pity which can be brought out and stuffed back inside when the occasion arises. The 2007 'Taare Zameen Par' brought dyslexia into the forefront, with Aamir playing a teacher who coaxes a near-suicidal student out of the hole he's dug himself into. 'Sitaare' is a near-reprisal, but also a neat flip, in the way the teacher becomes the taught. Which is not to say that 'Sitaare' doesn't have flaws. In some parts, the explanations become a bit stage-y, even though Gurpal Singh's character brings a lovely restrained emotional core to the man who runs the remedial centre; in other bits, the humour is heavy-handed. Occasionally, the film flattens. But none of these are deal-breakers. It sticks to its middle-of-the-road story-telling without trying for any sophistication which would have been wrong for this film, and keeps drama to a minimum, or let's say as much as it can in a Bollywood film. A sub-thread, featuring Dolly Ahluwalia as Gulshan's Lajpat-Nagar-ki-mummyji and her soft spot, played by Brijendra Kala, is entertaining enough to run away with the film; it circles back to our sporty gang just in time. It's good to see Genelia d'Souza back after a gap, even though her wobbly Hindi diction distracts you from thinking of her as a Dilli girl. Aamir is the star who has done the green-lighting and the heavy-lifting and staying the course. But the young adults who try and make the most of their challenges– on a learning curve that never stops, a situation which can be both exhausting and encouraging– are the true 'sitaare' of this film: the one who dyes his hair in rainbow colours, the one who hates having baths because of a childhood trauma, the one who can look at a plane in the air and tell you which route it is flying, the one who is forced to work long hours with low wages, the one who has had a bad experience with previous coaches, the one who wears a helmet and a smart mouth, and the lone girl in this gang, who personifies feisty. Director RS Prasanna and the writers have taken the trouble to show them as real people, with feelings and thoughts, who are what they are because of an accident of an extra chromosome, not objects of pity. It is their guts and their glory. Sitaare Zameen Par Movie cast: Aamir Khan, Genelia D'Souza, Gurpal Singh, Gopi Krishna Varma, Aroush Dutta, Vedant Sharma, Naman Mishra, Rishabh Jain, Rishi Sahani, Ashish Pendse, Samvit Desai, Ayush Bhansali, Simran Mangeshkar, Dolly Ahluwalia, Brijendra Kala Sitaare Zameen Par Movie director: R S Prasanna Sitaare Zameen Par Movie rating: 3.5 stars
