Sitaare Zameen Par: A slam-dunk that dribbles humour with sensitivity

Economic Times

11 hours ago

This charming 'basketball diaries' is special by not overplaying 'specialness' Have you ever watched a film so sweet and kind, that though you were conscious of its flaws, your heart willed your head not to let them overshadow what you loved about it? That's how I feel about director RS Prasanna's Sitaare Zameen Par (Stars on Earth), produced by Aamir Khan and Aparna Purohit, featuring Aamir as an errant basketball coach ordered by a judge to train a team of persons with intellectual disabilities. Prasanna's interest in blending humour with delicate topics was evident when he took up erectile dysfunction in the 2013 Tamil film, Kalyana Samayal Saadham (Wedding Feast), and its 2017 Hindi remake, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan (Good Luck, Be Careful). In SZP - the Hindi remake of the 2018 Spanish film, Campeones (Champions) - he reminds us that you can populate a comedy with marginalised communities, yet never punch down.
In the strictest sense of the word, SZP may be considered predictable. It goes without saying that by the end, Aamir's khadoos, selfish Gulshan will evolve. That he will repair his relationship with his wife (Genelia Deshmukh). That while he coaches neurodivergent youngsters (Simran Mangeshkar, Aayush Bhansali, Aroush Datta, Ashish Pendse, Gopi Krishnan Varma, Naman Misra, Rishabh Jain, Rishi Shahani, Samvit Desai and Vedant Sharma) in the game of basketball, they will coach him in the game of life. SZP's point though is not its conclusion, but the path to it. Aamir's willingness as producer and superstar to back thoughtful cinema far removed from the works of his male contemporaries in the Hindi film industry gives SZP the visibility it deserves. Its winning move is the casting of the basketballers, each one dealing in reality with the challenge that their character has on screen. The result: instead of 'playing' autism, or Down's syndrome, they play people who no doubt have challenges, but are not defined by them. A hat tip here to casting directors Tess Joseph and Anmol Ahuja. Gopi, who plays SZP's Guddu, was charming as the joint lead in Thirike (The Return), an endearing Malayalam film about orphaned brothers separated by adoption, co-directed by George Kora and Sam Xavier. Thirike was released in 2021, the same year as the lovely Hindi-English Ahaan directed by Nikhil Pherwani, starring an excellent Abuli Mamaji as a youngster with Down's Syndrome (like the actor), who befriends a man with OCD. SZP, Thirike and Ahaan add a crucial layer to discussions on representation in casting. I'm particularly preoccupied with this subject since I just watched the US series Parenthood, in which the brilliant Max Burkholder, a neurotypical actor, played a boy on the autism spectrum. Divy Nidhi Sharma's script for SZP nudges us to expand our definition of marginalisation, and to also note how those who face prejudice might harbour prejudice, too. Its most hilarious track involves Gulshan's ageism towards his mother, played impeccably by Dolly Ahluwalia. For a film that understands ageism, it's disappointing and ironic, though, that a woman of Aamir's age was not cast as Gulshan's wife. Instead, as he told the press, he has been 'de-aged' with VFX. I'm not sure whether it's the VFX or the weight of playing characters who are decades his junior, or prosthetics in the past, that can be blamed. But the fact is there's too much of the Aamir of 3 Idiots in the Aamir of PK, Laal Singh Chaddha, and SZP. I'm rooting for the return of the Aamir who gave me a lump in my throat when he looked skywards in a tough moment in the seemingly simple Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke (We Are Travellers on the Path of Love) and asked his dead sister, 'Main kya karoo, Didi?' It hurts to point this out because I'm emotionally invested in the Aamir who constantly shrugs off cliched notions of commercial viability to greenlight films like SZP. Conventional 'wisdom' among India's richest filmmakers is that sensitivity cannot coexist with hilarity. The joyous SZP tosses that 'wisdom' out of the window. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.) Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Zepto has slowed, and Aadit Palicha needs more than a big fund raise to fix it
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